Week of the Young Child: Early Years Are Learning Years

This week, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is celebrating the Week of the Young Child!  The goal of this week is to bring awareness to the needs of young children and their families and this year the theme is "Early Years Are Learning Years." 

The focus of NAEYC and this week fits perfectly into braininsights' mission and what I continue to say though my presentations, packets and blog posts. I am participating in the Week of the Young Child to do my part to continue to focus the attention and bring awareness to the role we all have in influencing a child's early years. As I repeatedly say, we ALL benefit from ALL children with well developed brains and the early years are the time that make the most impact.

However, some startling facts exhibit that we must improve our efforts and do much more for our nation's children. Statistics show 24% of children under the age of 6 live in poverty and 12 million children do no have enough food to eat.  Additionally, as I've continuously stated, high quality early childhood programs help children now and in the future, however, less than 10% meet national accreditation standards. This is information that needs to be common knowledge so we can improve outcomes for all children. Nutrition, quality care and the effects of poverty all directly impact brain development. We can not afford to have any of our children miss the opportunity to develop their brain in optimal ways.

In an ongoing effort to create awareness, throughout this week I will continue to post a daily brain fact and will also post a daily blog that corresponds to the Week of the Young Child's subthemes.  This week's schedule is as follows:

Tuesday - Play: Where Learning Begins
Wednesday - Early Educators Make An Impact on Brains
Thursday - Brain Power Through "Smart" Investments
Friday - Making the Connections to Healthy Brains

Check back each day for a new blog post and brain fact or sign up here to have the postings delivered directly to your email inbox.  Enjoy and share these for the benefit of our wonderful children!