Childcare is a necessity for families—it’s a cornerstone of early childhood education and economic growth. In Kentucky, discussions surrounding childcare challenges and possible solutions are continuing to find solutions for all families currently struggling to find reliable daycare facilities that meet their needs and standards. The demand for early childhood education programs continues to grow, highlighting the importance of addressing childcare issues at both the state and local levels.
In Frankfort, policymakers are actively engaged in discussions aimed at improving childcare access, affordability, and quality across the state while addressing key issues such as:
Funding and Subsidies: Lawmakers are exploring ways to increase funding to support low-income families in accessing quality childcare services. Families in Kentucky can look into Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) which helps low income families pay for child care.
Licensing and Regulations: Policymakers are considering updates to existing regulations to ensure the safety, health, and well-being of children in childcare settings. The Division of Regulated Child Care is responsible for current and new licensing regulations.
Workforce Development: Recognizing the critical role of early childhood educators, there is growing attention on workforce development initiatives aimed at attracting and retaining qualified childcare professionals. Efforts are underway to provide training, professional development opportunities, and competitive wages for early childhood educators. Daycare centers can work with Child Care Aware for the latest research based information.
Parental Engagement: Frankfort is also exploring strategies to enhance parental engagement and involvement in early childhood education. By empowering parents with information and resources, policymakers hope to strengthen the partnership between families and childcare providers in supporting children’s learning and development.
As discussions continue in Frankfort, it’s clear that addressing childcare challenges requires a collaborative and multi-faceted approach. Kentucky can work towards solutions that ensure every child has access to high-quality early childhood education and care. We can create a brighter future for the children of the Bluegrass State.
Some children are early walkers, talkers, or readers. Some children want to do everything like their big siblings while others like to just watch.
Every child develops at their own pace, but developmental milestones are one way that pediatricians and parents can anticipate upcoming skills and ensure each child is developing in a timely manner.
What Is a Developmental Milestone?
A developmental milestone is the approximately expected level of gross and fine motor skills, mental and emotional skills, cognition skills, and social skills for the age of the child. These will build on each other over time to accomplish greater strength, coordination, and comprehension.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a list of age-appropriate developmental milestones that many pediatricians use as a guideline in tracking developmental progress. These are not an absolute standard–in fact, they were revised in 2022! Many children eventually develop normally, even if they are “behind” in certain areas.
While developmental milestones aren’t something to stress over, they can help determine necessary care and therapy if a milestone is missed or delayed. A pediatrician noting these delays can qualify your child for beneficial therapy or healthcare procedures that will benefit their quality of life.
Why Parents Should Know Developmental Milestones
Because most children only see their pediatricians at well visits, months or even a year can go by before a pediatrician examines and observes your child. Even then, the pediatrician relies heavily on the parent’s subjective report because they can only observe so much in a 30-minute appointment.
Parents and guardians, then, need to know what to expect in the age range (or upcoming age range) of their child so they can give an accurate report. Many pediatricians’ offices will provide a handout of these milestones.
You must be honest at the pediatrician’s office. The pediatrician is on your child’s side! Even if your child isn’t meeting developmental milestones, the pediatrician is the one who can help, so sharing honestly can only benefit your child.
2 Months
By two months old, babies should be able to look at your face and be happy to see you. They should make other sounds than crying and be startled by loud noises. They should watch you move around the room and look at toys for several seconds at a time. They can hold their head up when lying on their tummy, move both arms and legs, and open and close their hands.
4 Months
At four months, babies can smile, chuckle, and make cooing sounds. They will look at their hands with interest and recognize that a bottle or breast means food. They can hold their head up, put their hands in their mouth, use their arms to swing at toys, and hold themselves up on their forearms while on their tummy.
6 Months
Your 6-month-old should be laughing, love looking at himself in a mirror, and recognize familiar people. They can squeal, take turns with you making sounds, and blow “raspberries.” They can reach for toys and put them in their mouths, roll from tummy to back, push up on straight arms when on their tummy, and sit (leaning on hands for support if necessary).
9 Months
At 9 months, your baby may be shy or fearful of strangers and react when you leave by crying or reaching for you. They will laugh at peek-a-boo, show various facial expressions (like happy, sad, mad), and respond to their name. They will say repeated sounds like “mama” or “baba” and lift their arms to be picked up. They will look for objects dropped out of sight, bang objects together, and transfer objects from one hand to another. They can get into a sitting position and sit unsupported.
12 Months
At a year old, babies play pat-a-cake, wave “bye,” say “mama” and “dada,” and understand “no”–even if they don’t listen! They like to put things in a container and look for objects you hide under a blanket as a game. They will pull to stand, cruise alongside furniture, pick up food between their thumb and pointer finger, and drink from a cup with help.
15 Months
Around 15 months, toddlers love to copy what other children do, show you their toys, clap, stack objects, and show physical affection to toys and loved ones. They may say one or two other words, like “da” for dog. They will look at objects when you name them, follow simple directions (“give me the toy”), and point to someone or something for help. They may be stacking steps on their own and feeding themselves.
18 Months
Toddlers at 18 months point at interesting things, play away from you, look at books, and know how to help you dress them. They try to say more words and follow one-step directions. They copy your chores and mannerisms. They walk on their own, climb on and off a couch, scribble, and try to use utensils.
2 Years
At 2 years, toddlers pay more attention to social situations by acting sad when others cry or look to see your reaction to a new situation. They can point to familiar objects in a book, say two words together (“more milk”), point to two body parts, and gesture more often with blowing kisses or nodding yes. They are interested in knobs and switches, playing with more than one toy at a time, running, kicking a ball, walking up steps, and eating with a spoon.
30 Months
At 2.5 years, toddlers begin to play with other children instead of beside them. They can follow a simple routine (“it’s time to clean up”) and like to get your attention to watch them. They can say about 50 words, using a noun and verb together like “doggie run.” They can tell you the names of objects in books and say “I,” “me,” and “we.”
They begin to play imaginatively and use simple problem-solving skills. They can follow two-step instructions like “shut the door and take off your coat.” They can identify at least one color. They begin to use their hands to twist things, take off some clothes independently, jump with both feet and turn pages in a book.
3 Years
3-year-olds can self-soothe within 10 minutes of childcare drop-off, and play with other children. You can begin to have simple conversations, and they ask “who,” “what,” “where,” or “why” questions. They can identify an action in a book like running or jumping. They say their first name and talk well enough for other adults to understand them.
They can draw a circle, string large beads on a string, use a fork, and put on some clothes independently. They avoid touching objects like a hot stove when instructed.
4 Years
Young children pretend to be something else during play, like a superhero or ballerina. They comfort a sad friend, avoid dangerous situations like jumping from a tree, like to help, and can change behavior based on their surroundings (home vs. school).
Their sentences are four or more words long, ask simple questions, and can tell you something about their day. They can name colors, tell what comes next in a story, and draw a person with three or more body parts. They can catch a large ball, serve their food, unbutton buttons, and hold their utensil and pencils in a pencil grasp.
5 Years
Children at this age can play games with simple rules, act or dance, and do simple chores. They can tell simple stories, answer simple questions, keep a conversation going with up to four exchanges, and recognize simple rhymes.
They can count to 10, recognize some written numbers and letters, and write some letters in their name. They can pay attention for 5 to 10 minutes, use words about time like “yesterday” or “afternoon,” button some buttons, and hop on one foot.
Developmental milestones should be used as a tool to help you and your pediatrician evaluate your child’s development. Some children develop faster than others, and some develop quicker in some areas and not others–like a socially aware child who is a late walker.
If you have concerns about your child’s development, speak with your pediatrician! They can best assist you.
At Children’s Academy, we have a well-rounded curriculum for every age group that helps them meet their developmental milestones. We provide many opportunities throughout the day for children to develop fine and gross motor skills, cognitive skills, and social and emotional skills.
While we tend to attribute impatience to children, everyone struggles with patience to a certain degree. Our fast-paced, instant-gratification culture usually allows us to avoid waiting for things we want.
Children are already prone to impatience. It’s no surprise that children these days, surrounded by instant gratification, usually lack patience.
However, everyone would agree that patience is a necessary life skill. It takes time (no pun intended) to develop patience in children, but this character quality is vital to living a fulfilled adult life.
Why Are Children Impatient?
No one has to teach a child to be impatient; it’s human nature! Even before a child can talk, they want their toy or snack, and they want it now!However, there can be contributing factors to a child’s impatience.
Technology
Cell phones, tablets, televisions, and game consoles are just a sampling of technological devices children have access to these days. Each one contains highly addictive programs that require minimal effort to enjoy but make it harder for children to persevere during real-life challenges.
Instant Gratification
Instant gratification comes in many forms: food from the drive-thru instead of a homemade meal, reading a book instead of watching a movie, or paying for same-day delivery instead of waiting a week for shipping.
Modeled Impatience
Children learn how to respond to life’s circumstances from the adult role models in their life. If their parent models impatience, it’s likely the child will, as well.
Why Is Patience Important?
Patience is vital to live a happy and fulfilled life. Patience improves your self-esteem, relationships, and life achievements, such as education, career opportunities, and financial stability.
While many of our desires can be granted quickly, there are still things in life that take time, and there’s no way to speed up the process. Someone unable to wait will be incapacitated, jumping from one best thing to the next–as long as it doesn’t take too long.
Patience and perseverance go hand-in-hand. A child who doesn’t learn to persevere through hard times will not meet their potential and face continual discouragement.
Ways to Help Your Child Develop Patience
It’s primarily the parent’s job to model and teach a child to be patient. This is because parents should be the biggest role models and authority figures in their child’s life. While other authority figures like teachers and grandparents are influential, if the parent isn’t consistent, the child likely won’t learn patience.
Luckily, there are plenty of practical and fun ways to model and teach patience.
Modeling Patience
Children learn more by observation than by education. You can tell your child to be patient with their homework, but if you get frustrated at the Internet speed, your child will likely follow your example of impatience.
Choosing to have a positive spin can help your child be more patient. For instance, if you’re waiting in a long grocery line, playing a game like counting all the candy that’s a certain color. Delaying gratification is a wonderful exercise for adults, too!
Patience Games
Games are an excellent way to improve patience skills without children realizing it. Here are some favorite patience games:
Hide and Seek: This classic game teaches children to wait to be found
Mother, May I?: Also called “Captain, May I?”, this game teaches respectful questioning and patience skills
Freeze: Play a favorite dance song and pause at random intervals and for various lengths of time. The child should remain “frozen” until the music begins again.
Popcorn Game: Sitting in a circle, pass around a bowl of popcorn in which each child takes only one piece of popcorn to eat at a time. This game teaches turn-taking and patience.
Delay Gratification
There are countless ways you can help your child learn patience by delaying gratification. Delayed gratification doesn’t mean you withhold anything–you just delay it.
For instance, you can bake cookies instead of opening a package of cookies. In both cases, your child still gets a cookie, but baking them stretches their patience (and is a bonding experience!).
Other ways you can delay gratification include:
Work towards a goal: Whether it’s saving up for a new toy or cleaning up their room before going to the park, children experience greater joy and satisfaction in their reward when they’ve worked for it.
Save toys and treats for special occasions: Children who routinely get a trinket or treat develop an unhealthy expectation that they should get rewards all the time. While you can still surprise your child with a treat, saving rewards for special occasions helps children develop patience and realistic expectations.
Creating (and sticking with!) boundaries: Whether it’s a treat, toy, or breakfast cereal, children will often push your boundaries. But sticking with your boundaries helps children develop patience because they learn to not give in to every whim.
Praise the Progress
Patience is a developed skill; children have no idea what patience is until you point it out.
Praising your child for exhibiting patience should be easy and delightful–they did it! Rejoice and celebrate together! You may be surprised at how much your child wants to please you, and if patience pleases you, they are more likely to do it. So make it a big deal and enjoy the rewards of your hard work!
Patience is a necessary life skill for children to have happy and fulfilling adult lives. It takes a lot of effort and consistency, but the rewards are worth it!
At Children’s Academy Childcare, our teachers are skilled at helping children learn patience. Our schedule helps children learn patience through taking turns, learning fine and gross motor skills, and cooperative play.
Children’s Academy Childcare and Preschool is proud to offer an outstanding curriculum that is educational, fun, and prepares your child for kindergarten per state educational standards.
The Week of the Young Child is a special time dedicated to honoring the importance of early childhood education and celebrating the remarkable journey of young children. For daycare facilities, this annual celebration holds immense significance, serving as a reminder of the crucial role they play in shaping the lives of young learners.
What is the Week of the Young Child?
The Week of the Young Child, established by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), is an annual event held during the first week of April. It aims to recognize the needs of young children and to celebrate the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs.
Importance of the Week of the Young Child in Childcare:
Advocating for Early Childhood Education: By participating in events, sharing resources, and engaging with policymakers, childcare providers can raise awareness about the critical role of early learning in preparing children for success in school and life.
Celebrating the Achievements of Young Learners: Childcare centers use the Week of the Young Child to celebrate the achievements and milestones of the children in their care. These celebrations boost children’s confidence and self-esteem while fostering a sense of pride in their accomplishments.
Engaging Families and Communities: Daycare providers invite parents, grandparents, and community members to participate in special events, workshops, and activities that promote family engagement and support children’s learning and development. These connections strengthen the bond between childcare centers and the families they serve, creating a supportive network for young children.
Promoting Professional Development: Childcare providers attend workshops, seminars, and conferences focused on early childhood education to best support the children’s growth and development. This week offers many specialized opportunities for this to occur.
Embracing Diversity and Inclusion: The Week of the Young Child celebrates the rich diversity of children and families by incorporate activities and discussions that honor different cultures, languages, and traditions. By creating inclusive environments where all children feel valued and supported, childcare centers lay the foundation for future success.
By participating in this annual event, childcare providers reaffirm their commitment to providing high-quality early childhood education and nurturing the potential of young learners. Reminding everyone that childcare centers play a vital role in shaping the future of our youngest citizens and building a brighter tomorrow.
If you haven’t noticed by now, your child grows and matures at a rapid speed! While this is most noticeable in the infant and toddler years, children of all ages are making many neurological connections that will aid them the rest of their lives.
Children learn primarily through play. Playtime is their “school” or “job” to develop the skills they need later for their actual schooling and occupations. When you see playtime as education, then you’ll want to provide your child with toys that grow their brains, bodies, and language skills.
Should All Toys Be Educational?
Not necessarily, but most of them should be.
Toys shape your child’s understanding and interpretation of their world. If every toy has lights, noises, music, or some technology component, they won’t be satisfied with anything that isn’t interactive in later years.
To give another word picture, toys are the “food” that nourishes your child’s brain, body, and language development. Children who grow up playing with open-ended toys (that is, toys that can be used in more than one way, like blocks) are more likely to be curious, have excellent problem-solving skills, and be more content, than children who play with highly-stimulating or tech-based toys.
If toys are like food, then open-ended toys are like the nutritious parts of a meal and tech toys are like dessert. They can be permissible, even more than once a day, but shouldn’t be your primary nutrition source.
How Your Child Develops
You must remember that your child develops in three primary areas: cognitive (which includes emotions), physical, and speech/language skills.
Cognitive development includes areas like problem-solving, decision-making, abstract thinking, and emotional regulation.
Physical development would be both gross and fine motor skills. Gross motor skills are big movements, like walking, running, jumping, climbing, etc. Fine motor skills involve picking up or manipulating small objects purposefully.
Speech and language skills include growing a vocabulary, developing sentence structure, and comprehending what others are saying.
A developmental toy will encourage growth in one or more of these areas.
Developmental Toys for Babies
The best developmental toys for babies are those with high-contrast colors. This is because their vision is still developing, so toys with bright or high-contrasting colors (like black and white) and bold patterns will grab and keep their attention. Playmats with mobiles are great for newborns, while blocks, stacking rings, and rattles are good choices for older babies.
Toys with various textures are another excellent option, as babies want to touch everything–and put it in their mouth! Many wonderful sensory books provide different textures and crinkly or squeaky sounds. However, ensure that toys and books don’t have any small pieces that a baby can choke on.
Once your child begins to be mobile, push and pull toys will help develop their gross motor skills. For speech and language development, simple books are the way to go. Baby books don’t even need a story; books that show pictures of everyday objects help them learn new words. Pointing to the objects and giving your own commentary is sufficient.
Developmental Toys for Toddlers
Children at this age crave toys that develop their cognition. Puzzles with large pieces, blocks, and matching games combine cognitive development with gross and fine motor development.
Toddlers also begin to love creating their artwork. Simple art supplies are an excellent way to develop sequencing skills (first dip the paintbrush into the paint, then paint the picture), fine motor development, and creativity. Age-appropriate supplies include crayons, paint sticks, paint brushes, or markers. Just ensure that any art supplies are non-toxic, as children often try to taste them.
To develop your toddler’s speech skills, puppets, dolls and action figures, and kitchen sets let your child utilize their growing vocabulary. Age-appropriate books introduce new words, help build sentence structure, and reinforce their understanding of words they already know.
Developmental Toys for Young Children
Pre-K children have more developed cognitive, motor, and language skills and are able to do highly coordinated activities. They can do many of the same activities as toddlers but on a higher level. For instance, puzzles with interlocking pieces, magnetic tile pieces for building structures, and Duplo or LEGO blocks.
Children at this age benefit from tripod scooters, balance bikes or tricycles, or bicycles with training wheels to improve their gross motor skills. For fine motor, you can choose more challenging art projects, such as paint-by-numbers, scissor activities, stickers, or tracing.
Keep reading age-appropriate books to develop your child’s language skills. They may also benefit from an interactive toy that teaches letters, letter sounds, numbers, a second language, and more.
Choosing the right toys for your child is just as important as choosing the right foods. While everything is alright in moderation, you still want your child to eat their fruits, veggies, grains, and proteins. Don’t give your child just tech-based toys–instead, choose a variety of toys that develop their cognition, motor skills, and language skills.
Children’s Academy Childcare and Preschool is proud to offer an outstanding curriculum that is educational, fun, and prepares your child for kindergarten per state educational standards.
In honor of International Woman’s Day, let’s take a moment to explore the remarkable contributions of Ella Baker to early childhood education and discover why her legacy remains relevant and vital today.
Ella Baker was a force to be reckoned with—a grassroots organizer, civil rights leader, and fierce advocate for social justice. Amidst her many accomplishments, Baker’s dedication to community-based education stands as a testament to her unwavering commitment to empowering marginalized voices.
Through the formation of the Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM), Baker championed the idea that education should be accessible, inclusive, and rooted in the cultural and social context of the community.
Baker understood that true empowerment begins with education. By establishing community-run childcare centers and preschool programs, she sought to create spaces where children could thrive academically, socially, and culturally. This idea is the foundation for daycare centers like Children’s Academy Childcare & Preschool today.
Baker believed in the importance of centering education around the needs and experiences of the child and their family. Her approach showed the value of culturally relevant curriculum, holistic development, and parent involvement. By empowering families to take an active role in their children’s education, Baker laid the groundwork for a more equitable and inclusive educational system.
Today, access to quality childcare remains a pressing issue, Ella Baker’s vision and commitment to community-based education reminds us of the power of grassroots organizing and collective action in addressing systemic inequalities. At Children’s Academy Childcare & Preschool, we strive to serve our families and honor Baker’s legacy by embracing her vision of education. We can work towards building a brighter future for all children.
