EmpoweredEd2020

1. Take care of you -- Exercise, eat well-balanced meals, stick to regular routines and reach out to others for support. These activities might be difficult when you are grieving, but taking care of yourself is still important. Grieving children do better when they have a healthy adult providing support and understanding to them.   2. Be honest with your child -- Discuss the tragic event with your child in a simple, direct and age appropriate manner. Be honest and share clear, accurate information about what happened. Children need to hear the truth from someone they love.   3. Listen -- Listen to your child share his or her story about what happened. Let them ask you questions and answer their questions as best as you can. Do not be afraid to say, “I don’t know.”   4. Acknowledge your child’s grief -- recognize that your child is grieving. Be careful not to impose your grief on your child, but allow him or her to grieve in his or her own way. It is normal ...

1. Take care of you -- Exercise, eat well-balanced meals, stick to regular routines and reach out to others for support. These activities might be difficult when you are grieving, but taking care of yourself is still important. Grieving children do better when they have a healthy adult providing support and understanding to them.   2. Be honest with your child -- Discuss the tragic event with your child in a simple, direct and age appropriate manner. Be honest and share clear, accurate information about what happened. Children need to hear the truth from someone they love.   3. Listen -- Listen to your child share his or her story about what happened. Let them ask you questions and answer their questions as best as you can. Do not be afraid to say, “I don’t know.”   4. Acknowledge your child’s grief -- recognize that your child is grieving. Be careful not to impose your grief on your child, but allow him or her to grieve in his or her own way. It is normal for children to...

Today’s parents are more involved than they’ve ever been with their children’s development. Except for when it comes to preschool. Many parents drop their kids off in the morning while the teachers take over, and then pick them up at the end of the day without giving their learning much more thought. To get the true benefits from early childhood education, however, parents need to consider how they can support what their children are learning throughout the day. The Benefits of Parent Involvement Some of a child’s most important cognitive development happens during their preschool years. By taking an active role in the early childhood education process, parents can help ensure that their child has all the support they need to develop to their full potential. Parent involvement helps extend teaching outside the classroom, creates a more positive experience for children and helps children perform better when they are in school. It is essential for parents to support the learning that hap...

Early childhood education is a term that refers to the period of time from a child’s birth to when they enter kindergarten, according to Dr. Jessica Alvarado, academic program director for the BA in Early Childhood Development at National University. According to  Alvarado, it is an important time in children’s lives because it is when they first learn how to interact with others, including peers, teachers and parents, and also begin to develop interests that will stay with them throughout their lives. It is a common misperception that early childhood education is only about learning basic skills. It is so much more than that, It is a time when children learn critical social and emotional skills and a partnership is formed between the child, their parents and the teacher. When this is done successfully, it lays the groundwork for it to continue throughout the child’s education. Nations around that world are becoming aware of the importance of early childhood education as well....

Look at the differences between a typical preschool child’s hand (left) and a typical 7 year old hand (right). Their hands are still developing and are not fully formed.    So what should they be doing to support this?   PLAY!!  Playdough, painting, coloring, cutting, gluing, playing outside, digging in dirt, sensory play, dress up play, science experiments, beading, puzzles, throwing balls, etc.  All of these things help their hands develop. When they are physically ready to write, they will! No need to rush them, they will show you when they are ready.”  http://dlvr.it/RxSQR0

  The average number of books in a U.S. household is 114, according to a just-published paper called " Scholarly culture: How books in adolescence enhance adult literacy, numeracy and technology skills in 31 societies ." 114 is a good number. The paper's authors studied 160,000 adults and found that just having 80 or more books in a home results in adults with significantly higher levels of literacy, numeracy, and information communication technology (ICT) skills. The paper finds, "Growing up with home libraries boosts adult skills in these areas beyond the benefits accrued from parental education or own educational or occupational attainment." The effect was found to be powerful in: Children from such homes who ended up attaining just a high-school-level education "become as literate, numerate and technologically apt in adulthood as university graduates who grew up with only a few books." It’s not quite the more books the better The study, led by  Dr....

David Schatzkamer wrote this fantastic piece after last year’s Super Bowl. The cost of a 30-second commercial spot for this year’s Super Bowl was about $5.6 million, and according to AdAge, 30 seconds gets your attention – now do the same with our own kids. So how can 30 seconds improve you relationship with them? Our children know when we’re engulfed in our own technological or work-driven tasks; perhaps you have heard an eager voice say “Daddy, look what I colored,” or “Mommy, you wouldn’t believe what I built, come and see.” For adults, it seems obvious that you simply cannot give them that attention all the time. To borrow from gridiron terminology call a “Time Out!” Also, get the timer out for this experiment…I challenge parents out there to stop all that you’re doing in one 30-second long period (yes, you can time it). 1) Get down on their level 2) Turn your body towards them 3) Listen to what they’re saying. Take that time to acknowledge what they are doing and how they are feel...

    Art exploration is not only fun and entertaining, but also educational. Here are some tips for growing your budding artist. Children are naturally curious. From the minute they gain control of their limbs, they work to put themselves out into the world to see how it all works. They explore, observe and imitate, trying to figure out how things operate and how to control themselves and their environments. This unrestricted exploration helps children form connections in their brain, it helps them learn—and it’s also fun. Art is a natural activity to support this free play in children. The freedom to manipulate different materials in an organic and unstructured way allows for exploration and experimentation. These artistic endeavors and self-directed explorations are not only fun, but educational as well. Art allows youth to practice a wide range of skills that are useful not only for life, but also for learning. Skills youth practice when participating in art activities inclu...

I thought this was frank and useful several years ago but now the teen market is even bigger. In fact bigger than the Baby Boomer market and although they have less to spend than their parents…they will be the consumers of the future for many brands today. 1. Too often, I think brands believe frippery is fantastic, it’s not – get to the point. Kids – like adults – probably want to know something along the lines of the following from your site… a) where your nearest store, event or retailer is, b) what your product/event/etc is going to cost them, c) how to get in touch with you or d) something pretty much damn nothing like playing a game. 2. Present the facts. Have a place where kids can put their own opinions down, and be approachable. 3. Don’t redirect them, that’s just rude – they’ve just turned up at your digital door. Sort your URL out. 4. Don’t put some tune you think is ‘hip’ on in the background; it won’t be. 5. And don’t turn up on their Facebook page and think you know what’s...

We believe the use of technology is changing rapidly, as is the knowledge base on which literacy approaches will work best for diverse children and families.  The Campaign for Grade Level Reading forecasts that communities committed to making a demonstrable impact on grade-level reading will need to prioritize their technology-based efforts by determining which areas are most pressing.  Promoting a personal connection among parents and educators via social media, cell phones, texting, and the development of hybrid learning communities is key. 

When Ralph Nader visited Atlanta I shared our pilot programs for new moms, now named Educare, with him over a coffee. Here are some of Nader’s thoughts regarding parents’ involvement in early childhood education.  Nader believes education is clearly a significant factor in enhancing the future of impoverished children. Education levels bear heavily on efforts to bring families out of poverty and in providing livable wages for low and moderate and middle-income families. Nader is adamant, “We need to invest in the nation’s children. We must assure an adequate safety net, health care, higher quality and more plentiful child care and vastly better educational opportunities, particularly as early as Kindergarten.”  Parental responsibility should be encouraged by finding ways to help support parents in their efforts to help support their children as more families confront economic conditions demanding a greater deal of time be spent away from home. Parents should be as involved as ...