When is Government Too Involved in Child Care?

A recent article in a Louisiana paper, The Advocate, describes a debate government officials are having regarding the licensing of child care facilities. Of course, we want to ensure that our children are safe, but when is state regulation going overboard?

Louisiana regulators are trying to decide whether or not children’s enrichment programs, like karate classes and a week-long summer camps, should be subject to licensing and regulations. Yikes!

I can understand the desire to ensure children’s safety, but such requirements could shut down a lot of valuable programs. Not because the programs aren’t good places for children, but because the burden of going through the licensing process is too much.

Take our local children’s museum for example. Most of the time children attend the museum with their parents, caregivers or guardians. No license required. But once a year, they run a week-long summer camp. The camp began at the request of many parents who were struggling with a gap in child care options the week before the school year started. All of the area summer programs were over by then and care options were few.

The summer program is in its third year and by all accounts, it’s a great success. Now, had the museum needed to get a state license to provide this service, it never would have happened. The process would require more staff time, money and other resources than would be feasible for the museum for such a short program. The gap in care options for that week would continue. If my daughter’s dance studio had to get a child care license to teach her after-school dance class, chances are that studio would stop the drop-off children’s program too. Parents and children would suffer.

Enrichment opportunities are important for children and the more options families have to find opportunities that suite their child’s intrests, the family’s budget and everybody’s schedule, the better off a community is.

The licensing and oversight of child care facilities is important. Many parents have no choice about placing their child in child care, and often time few options as to which facility they end up using. It is important that all child care facilities are safe and of high quality. This is not true of enrichment programs. Parents do have a choice, and the more choices available, the better. Bad programs can be weeded out and good programs can thrive. When it comes to enrichment programs and short-term summer camps, choice is what will ensure quality.

It’s About Helping Every Child to Learn

This fall I began working with a local child care center that agreed to use the WoW Kits Terrific Topics curriculum materials to promote language and social skills in a small group of children with a variety of developmental delays. The group is made up of 8 children who are pulled from their regular classrooms to receive this extra support from 3 speech therapists. The group meets for 1/2 hour each week.

I recently sat with the teachers for our first review of the project. The feedback is exciting! When I asked the teachers what they liked best about the program, these are the responses I got:

• “It’s just so easy. The activity ideas are great”
• “I love the portfolios. We’ve never used them before and I love seeing them develop. We had a parent conference last week and I was able to pull out the portfolio to show the parents. It was great.”
• “I’ve been really surprised by what they kids are able to do and how quickly they are ‘getting’ things.”
• “I like sharing the ideas with classroom teachers. They really work!”
• “The kids love coming. I have no problem getting them to leave the classroom.”

I was concerned about introducing teachers to the concept of keeping portfolios while at the same time beginning this pilot program and learning to use the curriculum. I thought it might be too overwhelming. I was thrilled to hear that it was not.

The negative feedback did not come from any of the WoW materials. Some of the issues teachers identified included:

• “We’ve had a lot of absences lately and when kids are out they miss a lot”
• “The day of the week that we’ve chosen to do this program conflicts with holidays and some special events here at the school.”

I hope the enthusiasm continues as this project evolves. The goal is to gather some good data on the effectiveness of our activities with this important population of learners. I firmly believe that when teachers use Multiple Intelligences to guide them as they teach content and concepts, all children benefit. I want my curriculum to be proof of that point.

PreK Funding Up Nationally, Despite the Economy

Good news! Across the country states are realizing the value of supporting preschool programs. According to an article in Education Week, 27 of the 38 states that providing funding for preschool have either increased or maintained previous funding levels for 2010. Even better, there are two states, Rhode Island and Alaska, currently working on new pilot programs to begin state funding for preschool.

California, a state in the news a lot these days for their major budget shortfalls, is surprisingly among the states increasing funding, thanks to a federal grant.

“We are really pleased by the fact that we were able to maintain our programs,” said Nancy Remley, an education administrator for the California Department of Education. “We know that early education is really one of the best indicators that children are ready for school, and the achievement gap can really be reduced by this reduction in the readiness gap.”

On the down-side, ten states have cut funding and these decisions in Illinois, Ohio and Michigan in particular were described as:

a failure to make tough choices that put proven programs ahead of politics will cost thousands of young children the opportunity to enter kindergarten better prepared

Overall, I see this as a great indicator that our legislators are beginning to recognize the value of quality preschool programs and this can only help the industry.

The Positive Side of “No”

Parents and teachers often get ruffled when a child tells us “no”. We tend to interpret it as direct disobedience or a challenge to our authority. Over the weekend I attended a conference which gave me a different perspective and changed my opinion.

The keynote speaker was Bill Corbett of Cooperative Kids. He stressed the importance of teaching children to say “no” respectfully. The ability to say “no” with confidence is a powerful defense against peer pressure, among other things. As the mother of a little girl, the “among other things” is what really got my attention!

The catch is, in order to be able to say “no” to people out in the real world, we first have to allow them to say “no” to us. It is with us that children first learn and practice new skills, and as we all know, saying “no” is a skill. After all, haven’t we all ended up chaperoning a party, organizing an event, _____ (fill in the blank with any other favor someone may have asked of you) when we really didn’t want or intend to?

So, the next time your child tells you “no”, try not to think of it as the beginning of the end of your reign as parent (or teacher). Think of it as a child’s attempt at showing some independence and support that attempt. Now, supporting that attempt doesn’t mean giving in. It just means acknowledging that you hear the child.

Here are some steps to navigating that “no”:

1. Acknowledge the attempt at independence- “I understand you don’t want to stop playing with the trains right now, but it’s time for dinner.”
2. Model respectful ways to say “no” in your reply- Try the phrases Mr. Corbett suggests, “I’m not willing to leave our dinner on the table to get cold while you play.” The other phrase is “I’m not ready…” I’m not ready for you to have a sleepover yet.
3. Be willing to negotiate a reasonable compromise- remember your ultimate goal is to nurture a confident, independent and cooperative child. If you end up giving your child two more minutes to play with the trains while you put the dinner on the table, you didn’t really loose the battle, and you did give your child a boost of confidence in their ability to stand up for themselves.

Another tip Mr. Corbett gives is to have your child repeat back whatever agreement you come to. Human nature is such that we are much more likely to follow through if we verbalize the task.

I tried this technique with my daughter and was shocked at how effective it was. Give it a try! And if you have a chance to attend one of Cooperative Kids’ seminars, do it. It never hurts to add to our discipline tool box!

When Three’s a Crowd

Three is always a tricky number when it comes to kids and their friends. Inevitably, someone feels left out or ganged-up on. Despite the pains I take to try to avoid a group of three at the house, it happens…a lot. So I was thrilled to come across the article, Three Friends and a Meltdown, from the pages of Kidcomplishment.

In it the author gives a brief explanation of why three is such a difficult number for children and includes some great advice on how to manage a group of three when issues arise:

Keep trying When a three-way playdate goes bad, your first reaction may be, “Never again.” But that robs your child of the chance to develop his group social skills…

Huddle up Talk to the threesome at the beginning of a playdate. Say something like, “We all want to have a great time, right? How can we make sure everyone has fun?” Allow the children time to respond, and then help them think of ways to include everyone in their play.

Encourage turn-taking Ask each child to pick a group activity and help the three of them decide what order to play them in…

Teach assertiveness Compromising is not the same as caving in. Even if your child is the host, she needs to stand up for himself — especially if there are two friends to juggle instead of just one. Yelling, “I hate you!” is not assertive, nor is productive. You can teach your child to state her case calmly…

Allow time and space for cool-downs When tempers explode, sometimes the best thing to do is to temporarily separate the children.

With a little guidance and support we can help our children navigate the pitfalls of that tricky number, three.