The Lenawee County Fair 4H clubs focus on quality. The Lenawee County Fair just ended and I was reminded how important training is even for the youngest children at the fair. The 4H clubs require the children who show pigs at the fair to take a class on Pork Quality Assurance. Children who complete the Pork Quality Assurance class learn how to tell when the pig is sick and how to give a shot if the pig is sick. The children learn how to identify one pig from the other and how to care for their pigs. Simple things like not to keep them outside too long because they

How much do you know about the person caring for your children? I have yet to meet a parent who didn’t tell me they had the best child care provider. The provider who is accommodating when you need an early drop off or late pick up. The provider who accommodates you when you forget to pack the lunch, the winter hat and gloves, or those extra diapers. The provider who your child wishes they could spend more time with. Have I hit it right yet?
 

I was packing my lunch this morning and couldn’t decide between a banana and a nectarine. The nectarine is sweet, juicy and only great in the summer months. Sure you can get it all the time it just isn’t the same in January as it is in July. I am very particular about my bananas too, not too green not too yellow, no spots, just ripened from green to yellow, perfect. Another summer dilemma perfect bananas don’t come too often in the summer because of the heat, they ripen too quickly. Can you guess what I did? If you guessed I packed both; you a

What do I tell someone new I just met about my work at ECIC? I recently had a conversation and shared how my responsibilities revolve around creating a system to improve child care quality by coordinating and connecting existing supports and services for child care providers and families who use child care. Those supports and services include professional development and training for child care providers and Great Start CONNECT’s 24/7 licensed child care referral search.
 

I fly often and last weekend I had a new experience. I was taking the red eye home from Phoenix and had the whole row to myself (thanks to a colleague’s suggestion to change my seat). Wonderful for a late night trip however, not my first experience. About an hour into my flight the sky began to change and went from sun setting oranges, pinks and purples to a wall of blackness. The clouds were thick and black, and starting to light up. It was like watching a pinball machine in action, with all the bumpers and lights and every once in a while a wild streak of bright color.

High quality child care can have a lasting impact on a child’s development, behavior and cognitive abilities, according to areport released recently by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Based on the findings of the report, children who received high quality child care in the first few years of life scored higher on measures of academic and cognitive achievement when they were 15 years old. The reverse also proves to be true, low quality child care has lasting impacts too.

Star Power is the day early childhood advocates spend at the capitol talking with and educating their Michigan legislators about the importance of early childhood issues, and the difference quality early childhood experiences make in young children’s lives.
 

I knew that would get your attention, and now that I have it, welcome to my new blog! Once an aspiring astronaut, my journey rocketed down a detour and I discovered early childhood. I boldly went where no one I knew had gone before, and sought out new paths of knowledge. I soon discovered curious little humans called toddlers and I knew there was no going back, I had found my universe.