Parenting on the Go

Check out the free Parenting Ages and Stages App for Smart Phones. It is by the folks at Parenting magazine and it is very cool. You can download your child’s age and receive messages that are customized to your child’s age and stage of development. It has great topics like how to tell if your kid is gifted and how to tell if your baby is left or right handed before they are born! Topics cover issues from pre-natal to the school years.  I particularly liked the “5 Big-Kid Discipline Dilemmas –Solved”.

Vote for Kids

” I hear from more people about dog food than I do about child care.”
That was a statement made by one of our former governors to illustrate that child care advocates and parents need to speak up if they want to change child care.
 
What a sad statement. And I’m sure it’s true. Parents of young children have their hands full with work and family. Child care providers are exhausted and trying to hold their businesses together so have little time to contact legislators.
 
But here is your chance. Take a half hour next Tuesday and VOTE for kids. Vote for your kids, my kids, your neighbor’s kids. Your voice and vote are important.

Education A Two Way Street

I was taken with a comment made during a reception we had for our Spanish speaking child care providers the other night. Edouardo, a very eloquent gentleman who used to be a professor in Cuba, was talking about helping his wife with the children in their family child care home.

He said that although he hopes the children learn from him during the day, he always learns something from them too. I hadn’t thought about that for a long time but I sure do agree with him. Among other things kids have taught me: not to take life too seriously, a hug goes a long way, you should always be comfortable when reading, friends are really important, the artistic process is more important than the product. Dancing is a good thing.

Why we do the work we do.

Susan Vessels

Threats to non-profit child care organizations

The latest issue of Exchange magazine reports on a study recently conducted with North America’s largest non-profit child care organizations. When asked about the events threatening non-profit organizations in 2010, they listed the following :

1. State of the economy
2. Rising cost of health insurance
3. Children with challenging behaviors
4. Decreases in public subsidies
5. Lack of affordable space to expand
6. Lack of subsidies for middle class parents
7. Shortage of qualified teachers
8. State quality rating systems
9. Changes to state licensing/regulations
10. Lack of work ethic of younger hires

What do you see as the biggest threats to your program?

To read more about the survey, go to www.ChildCareExchange.com

CCAP Changes

The Kentucky Division of Child Care is making a number of changes to the CCAP subsidy program

effective 7/1/10. One of the most fundamental is the change to their definition of non-traditional hours and how a child care provider is paid for caring for children during non-traditional hours.

New Non-Traditional Hour Definition:  7:00 pm – 5am daily or 7:00 pm Friday through Monday 5:00 am .

How Rates are Determined:  Providers will only be paid the additional dollar for children who are approved for  non-traditional hour care. The new certificates will have a check off box indicating approval of non-traditional hour care payments.  

Find out more about these CCAP changes and other DCC policy changes at the 4-C Open Houses:

6/22 between 1-3pm, 4-C Accounting Office 960 S. Third St. Louisville ( 502 589-7251 ) 

6/30 between 11:30-1:30, 4-C Lincoln Trail Office, 54 First St. Elizabethtown ( 270-360-9911)

Recent Headlines

“Study Finds That Effects of Low-Quality Child Care Last Into Adolescence”

“Good Child Care Has Benefits That Last Into High School-But Free Play Is Important”

These headlines are both reporting on the same study. The study was done by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development following 1,324 children from one month of age to almost 20. Although we rarely see studies that follow kids for 20 years to assess the effects of child care on their development, we have a great deal of data that says the same thing.

Good child care is good for children and bad child care is bad for children.

It would be nice if we could just all agree on this and spend the money going for research and data collection on underwriting the salaries and training of child care staff. That is how we increase the quality of child care for all kids.

Susan Vessels

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

I cringe everytime I read or hear about increasing the child care standards. Of course I’m in favor of children having the very best environments possible and the best prepared teachers. But I don’t think that is neccessarily what we get when we raise licensing standards.
 
We have been attempting to increase the quality by continuing to add more layers of requirements on top of those we already have. And good child care programs jump through the ever higher hoops to try to meet them.
 
Let’s get rid of the bad apples. Close down those that have no business being in the child care business. The places you wouldn’t take your dog to for the day, let alone your baby!
 
But maybe we’ve got it all wrong. Maybe we should leave the top where it is for a year and spend our energies on getting rid of the bottom. That’s where the damage is being done. That’s where the new licensing standards are ignored just like the old ones were. That’s where people are being paid to plop kids in front of tvs for the day.
Let’s declare a war on crummy child care. All our kids deserve better.

Susan A. Vessels
Executive Director
Community Coordinated Child Care (4-C)

So here we are starting a 4-C blog.

When I came to 4-C in 1990 I didn’t have a computer. I certainly didn’t have one in my child care center I ran for the 12 years before making the transition to 4-C.
But, as with most of us in the U.S., I have gone from no computer to seeing them as an essential part of my life.
I think this is a very good thing for people whose job is taking care of others. Whether you are a parent, a child care provider, or an elder care provider, it is often a lonely job. Computers help us feel connected to others who are experiencing the same issues as we are.
I hope that the 4-C blogs will help with those connections. We will not only be discussing what’s on our minds but also provide links to child caring resources and activities. So whether you are interested in knowing how to be a better advocate for children or would like some fresh ideas for things to do with children on a rainy afternoon, check back and see what’s happening here.

Susan Vessels