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Foundation for Early Learning is partnering with early learning expert Dr. Patricia Nan Anderson to launch a new discussion forum on the Foundation's Facebook page.  This new discussion board will be focused on providing tips and advice to support you and your child's learning.

Join the conversation at www.Facebook.com/fdnforearlylearning and share your point of view ideas on how to navigate the waters of parenthood. The discussion forum will by run under the "Discussions" tab on our Facebook page.

Weekly Contest

Each week, for five weeks, Dr. Patricia will be randomly selecting a piece of advice or response from the community forum. The user who provided this helpful post will win a $25 gift card to Starbucks.

“Like” our Facebook page and start sharing your ideas today!

Our Getting School Ready booklets offer parents from multiple cultures simple tips on how to ensure their kids are healthy and ready for school. In total for half of a fiscal year, we've distributed 25,459 booklets in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Somali, Korean, Russian and Cambodian. This doesn't include all of the downloads and people who view the booklet online. We also have an mp3 version available in Oromo!

Interested in a Getting School Ready booklet for yourself, family, friends or organization? Check out www.gettingschoolready.org. We'll ship up to 25 booklets to you free of charge.

On Wednesday, December 9, 2009 Washington Governor Chris Gregoire released her “all-cuts” state budget. We knew it would be grim, as the state budget is projected to be at a $2.6 billion deficit. The early learning world was bracing for cuts, but hoping for the best.

As early learning advocates we had been spreading the message of “protect early learning.” Our partners at the Children’s Alliance mobilized a campaign and had over 600 messages sent to the governor telling her to protect early learning.

Early learning advocates aren’t naïve, we knew that the State needed to balance the budget, but we also understood the reality that babies and children can’t wait. We can’t tell a baby “Please stop learning and growing until the economy recovers.” We were hopeful that early learning would be spared, but unfortunately it wasn’t.

Below is a short list of the proposed cuts to early learning, it is compiled by the Washington State Office of Financial Management and notes from the Early Learning Action Alliance:

• Eliminate state funding for the Career and Wage Ladder, a pilot program that provides wage incentives for child care providers to advance their professional development.  ($1.5 million)
• Eliminate state funding for the Child Care Resource and Referral Network, which will continue to receive federal funding to operate local referral hot lines and provide training.  ($425,000)
• Maternity support for more than 50,000 high-risk pregnant women.  ($28 million)
• All day kindergarten for students living in poverty. ($33.6 million)
• Children’s health care (the Apple Health Care program), for 16,000 low-income kids.  ($11.6 million)
• Eliminating funding for 3 year-olds from the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) ($10.5 mil) ECEAP is a comprehensive “whole child”, family-focused preschool program designed to help low-income and at-risk children and families succeed in school and life.
• Working Connections Child Care (helps families pay for child care) Reduced from 3,800 cases per month to 1,400 cases per month, 63.2% reduction. ($88.5 million)
• Elimination of Council for Children and Families, which supports child abuse and neglect prevention programs.

Many of us understand that the budget needs to be balanced and hard decisions need to be made. There isn’t a ‘silver bullet’ that will solve all of the state’s budget problems. But these cuts will impact our youngest residents the most. As my in-laws wrote in their note to the Governor:

There should be no higher priorities than ensuring the best possible health and learning opportunities for our youngest Washingtonians. Please put early childhood health and education first on your "must have" list.

Our household is more than willing to support whatever strategies are necessary to ensure protection for the well-being of our youngest.  Our future, really.
 
Thank you.
Donald & Lina H.
Poulsbo

The red flag has been raised. Talk to your neighbors, family, friends, legislators, and the Governor, about what early learning means to you. Tell them that children can’t wait. Waiting for the economy to recover isn’t an option. As the Governor moves forward let her know that preserving the investments made in early learning is something you care about. Repeating the words of my father-in-law: “There should be no higher priority than ensuring the best possible health and learning opportunities for our youngest Washingtonians.”

In the past few days I’ve read three thought provoking articles about how young minds learn and why children need to play. The first is called In Defense of Play-Based Education written by a mother on why she chose a play-based preschool for her child. The second is a study by the Alliance for Childhood called: Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School and the third, in the Boston Globe: Pressure-Cooker Kindergarten.

Children learn through play. Most of us know this and who doesn’t love to play? As an adult I thrive on play. I thrive on using time senselessly, mindlessly, and having the luxury to think or not think—sometimes my best solutions come out of this non-thinking. 

According to the Crisis in Kindergarten study “Kindergartners are now under great pressure to meet inappropriate expectations. … At the same time, they are being denied the benefits of play—a major stress reliever.” It goes on to say “Given the high rates of psychiatric disturbances among children today, it is critically important that early education practices promote physical and emotional health and not exacerbate illness.”

This got me to thinking about my five-month old. He’s learned a lot and it has come through play and his playful interactions with his caregivers. Ivan has learned how to grab things, communicate, and express his likes and dislikes. All of this came through what we consider ‘play.’ But beyond that I can see he is learning and developing skills that he will need for life beyond mom and dad. Through his toys he has learned cause and effect—if I pull this string music will play, if I put my hand here a bell will ring, if I giggle the adults will make funny faces.

In the Boston Globe article several educators who were interviewed talked about striking the balance among testing, curriculum, and the need to make learning fun. Imagine being a five year-old and frustrated by not being able to read but being forced to and not wanting to disappoint the adults around you that you trust. Setting up students for success is a better way to ensure that they will be excited about continuing on with school.

Another thought about why play is important for young children is consideration for teachers and caregivers. On a community coalition conference call, Susan Anderson-Newham, a librarian with the Pierce County Library and Early Learning Public Library Partnership member, mentioned that she is developing a new training on how to use humor in early literacy. This is in response to learning that care providers often feel stressed. As many families know, when mom is happy the child and family are happier; I would guess the same goes at child care—when the teachers are happy they are better able to give of themselves.

This doesn’t mean that children should be running free and having free-play all of the time. As the report says there needs to be a balance between playing and learning, and the two do not need to be mutually exclusive. Constructive play is a great way to learn.

Let’s keep the focus on children and provide them what they need to grow, learn, and thrive. Tonight I will go home and let Ivan play, and play with him. Some of that play may be holding him up and letting him stand (which he likes to do), some of the play may be with books and allowing him to throw them (again cause and effect and repetition—how many times will I pick them up for him?). No flash cards, Baby Einstein, or pressure cooker learning for us. We need to play!

UPDATE

Here is more information on the importance of play from Zero to Three: http://www.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/The_Truth_About_Play.pdf?docID=9381

One of my first jobs was working at a therapeutic child care center. The center helped children one-month through five-years overcome the effects of child abuse and/or neglect. These young children often could not speak with words about what had happened to them, but often their behaviors, or their parents behaviors had triggered a Child Protective Service response and allowed them into the center’s opening arms.

Reading in the Seattle newspapers about the 14-year-old girl in Carnation that suffered from starvation and abuse, made me think about many of the young children I saw come through the center. The article also reminded me about how important it is to know the warning signs of child abuse and neglect, and how it takes a concerned community to stop or prevent abuse from happening. In Carnation all it took was a neighbor who called the police saying she was concerned—the power of one person who cared to make a call.

There are often signs and symptoms of abuse or neglect, please take a moment to learn more. The Child Welfare Gateway website has an easy list to review:

The Child:

• Shows sudden changes in behavior or school performance
• Has not received help for physical or medical problems brought to the parents' attention
• Has learning problems (or difficulty concentrating) that cannot be attributed to specific physical or psychological causes
• Is always watchful, as though preparing for something bad to happen
• Lacks adult supervision
• Is overly compliant, passive, or withdrawn
• Comes to school or other activities early, stays late, and does not want to go home

The Parent:

• Shows little concern for the child
• Denies the existence of—or blames the child for—the child's problems in school or at home
• Asks teachers or other caregivers to use harsh physical discipline if the child misbehaves
• Sees the child as entirely bad, worthless, or burdensome
• Demands a level of physical or academic performance the child cannot achieve
• Looks primarily to the child for care, attention, and satisfaction of emotional needs

The Parent and Child:

• Rarely touch or look at each other
• Consider their relationship entirely negative
• State that they do not like each other

In Washington you can report suspected abuse or neglect (of either a child or an adult) by calling the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) toll-free hotline at 1-866-END-HARM (1-866-363-4276). It takes adults caring about children and the persistence to get them help that will change a child’s life.

There are many programs and services in place to help prevent child abuse in neglect. Washington State 211 can help to connect you with services in your community—again all it takes is a phone call. By dialing 211 you can explain what services you need and they will connect you to those services in your area. ParentHelp123.org has resources and information to help you meet your families needs. 

Often the stories of prevention don’t make the front page of the newspaper, but that doesn’t make those stories any less important. I remember so many of the young children that passed through my old workplace. One child, a chubby little four-year-old with spiral braids and a purple knee length dress, said to me “You’ll remember me, right?” Today, if I saw her I would tell her “Of course I remember you!” 

*UPDATE*

Lorrie Grevstad, a dedicated colleague, brought to my attention Stregthening Families here in Washington. The Stregthening Families website has some wonderful information for families, providers, the community about protecting children and helping all families provide nurturing care for children. Read Below to leran more:

Strengthening Families Washington – Making Small Changes for Big Results

Early childhood professionals have known for decades that they play a unique role in protecting and nurturing young children as well as promoting their social and emotional development.

Now there is evidence to suggest that early childhood programs that reach out to parents may also be the best child abuse and neglect prevention strategy. Washington has been selected to expand an approach aimed at connecting child care centers, parents and communities with the resources and support each need to ensure the best possible outcomes for children.

The Strengthening Families Washington initiative is based on national research and evidence that recognizes the important role child care providers play in building protective factors in families with young children. Protective factors help parents use resources, support and strategies that allow them to parent more effectively, even under stress.

 Research shows that quality child care can enhance:

• Parental resilience 
• Social connections 
• Knowledge of parenting and child development
• Concrete support in times of need 
• Social and emotional competence of children

Please take a moment to look at their website and learn more about how you can make a difference in a child's life. If you know of other websites, books, or information please let us know, you can leave a comment or email me at erin@earlylearning.org. We want to hear from you.