The Week of the Young Child...

This week at school, and across the country, we're celebrating Week of the Young Child. We're having fun with it too. We have activities every afternoon. Everyday is a fun day. Monday: Crazy Hat Day. Tuesday: Costume Day (I'm dressing as a kid in my class! haha!) Wednesday: Plant a Garden Day (we're planting sunflowers). Thursday is Crazy Sock Day. Friday is PJ Day! Guess which day I'm most excited about?

What's the Week of the Young Child Heather? Well...(insert name), I'll tell you...

The Week of the Young Child is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the world's largest early childhood education association, with nearly 100,000 members and a network of over 300 local, state, and regional Affiliates.

The purpose of the Week of the Young Child is to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs.

NAEYC first established the Week of the Young Child in 1971, recognizing that the early childhood years (birth through age 8) lay the foundation for children's success in school and later life. The Week of the Young Child is a time to plan how we--as citizens of a community, of a state, and of a nation--will better meet the needs of all young children and their families.

So many of our children live in homes where  both parents work. Which means that childcare is of great need. The part most forget is how important high-quality child care is. For some families, mostly low income families, high-quality or in some cases quality child care is not available. Even worse, in the United States, roughly 18% of children under 18 and 24% of children under the age of 6 live in poverty. Its estimated that 12 million children do not have enough food to meet their basic needs and 3.2 million are suffering from hunger.

Wow, humbling isn't it? Not only did I grow up in the loving environment of family and friends, but I had a pretty good school system, and I had way too much food to satisfy my needs and wants. These years, 0-8yrs, are years that affect the rest of a person's life! Life! We have got to do more to help these children. Its not like they did this to themselves, or chose this life.

It's easy to focus on the children. But don't forget that we cannot neglect the parents and families. One of the biggest lessons I learned in the hospital was that a child's health is dependent on the parents. If mommy and daddy can't accept, handle, etc, the child feeds and learns from this. To help these children, we have to help the families in these situations as well.

If you'd like more information, or ways to help, just contact me. One thing everyone can do is pray. So...PRAY!