More and more employees are struggling harder than ever to balance the demands of their work and home lives. Studies show that working parents have an increasing rate of absenteeism as they search for child care, juggle school holidays, care for sick children, adjust for sick child care providers, schedule school conferences, and respond to the unexpected.

Environmental Health

The problem: Providers recognize that significant environmental issues exist in some child care programs. However, identifying and addressing these issues can seem like an overwhelming task.

One solution: Safety and Environment: Protecting Kids from Hidden Hazards, a new e-book from CCAoA, which contains concrete actions that CCR&Rs and providers can take to reduce environmental hazards.

Opportunities and Challenges

Summer is right around the corner and it's not too soon to start planning. While your need for child care is year-round, summertime offers special opportunities as well as challenges. Even for very young children, child care schedules often follow a school year model with transitions in June or September. For some children, the end of the school year will mean a move to a new classroom. For others, it may mean choosing a camp or recreational program followed by a new class or new school in the Fall. Summer might also mean vacation travel to visit friends and family.

Oportunidades y Retos

Ya viene el verano, y ahora es el momento oportuno de empezar a hacer planes. Si bien la necesidad que usted tiene de contar con servicios de cuidado de niños dura todo el año, la época de verano ofrece no sólo retos sino también oportunidades especiales. Hasta para los niños muy pequeños, los calendarios de los centros de cuidado con frecuencia se ajustan a un modelo basado en el año académico, con transiciones en junio o septiembre. Para algunos niños, el cierre del año académico significa el traslado a una nueva aula. Para otros, puede significar elegir un campamento o un programa recreativo seguido por una nueva clase o una nueva escuela en el otoño. El verano también puede significar viajes durante las vacaciones para visitar amigos y familiares.

Wendy Nycz is a family advocate from Wisconsin who shared her experience after attending the 2019 Child Care Works Summit.

Earlier this month, Catey Rice and I had the honor of attending the 2019 Child Care Works Summit alongside 22 other Family Advocates and about 150 child care resource and referral professionals from 32 states, plus D.C. I was selected to attend because as a mother of 3 teens and a toddler, I have been involved in the childcare world for many years. Not only as a parent, but also as a professional. I currently live in the small town of Antigo, Wisconsin where my husband and I are both self employed and work from home in order to also care for our toddler. I made the decision to leave the professional workforce not long after my littlest one was born due to the cost and lack of quality care in our area.  

It’s May and there have already been 704 cases of measles across the U.S. this year. That’s more than any single year since 1994. About one-quarter of this year’s cases have affected children under age 5. And nine times out of ten, the person who got sick was either unvaccinated or unsure if they were vaccinated.