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Child care has become a fact of life for many American families. At the core of current debates about welfare reform and school readiness, child care has moved to the center of discussion about federal policy for children and families. This workshop report addresses the factors affecting patterns of child care use among low-income families; the quality, safety, and continuity of child care and its effects on children's development; the role of child care in families' efforts to prepare for and maintain paid employment; and the structure and consequences of federal child care subsidies. Tables, graphs, and references.
How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.
Criteria for assessing quality child care as well as tips for financing, coping with guilt and separation anxiety, and a directory of national and state child care and advocacy agencies.
Grow It, Try It, Like It! Preschool Fun with Fruits and Vegetables is a garden-themed nutrition education kit for child care center staff that introduces children to: three fruits - peaches, strawberries, and cantaloupe, and three vegetables - spinach, sweet potatoes, and crookneck squash.
Our overloaded child care system is failing children and families. The authors explain what children of different ages--and their families--need, and what kinds of programs are necessary in light of current social and economic realities.
