Today I joined First Lady Michelle Obama, Sesame Street and many coalition partners at the White House to continue the mission to end the childhood obesity epidemic. Let’s Move! and Sesame Workshop are partnering with the produce industry to use Elmo, Cookie Monster and Sesame Street’s other furry characters free of charge to help market fruits and veggies to children. Elmo and Rosita joined the First Lady to talk about how important healthy options are.

This week, the New Republic ran an article, “The Hell of American Day Care: An Investigation into the barely regulated, unsafe business of looking after our children.” The article reviewed the condition of child care in America today and highlighted the Texas child care program where a fire killed four of seven young children being cared for by Jessica Tata in February 2011.

Con la temporada ocupada de gripe, es importante recordarse porque la higiene de las manos es tan importante. Al mantener las manos limpias uno puede reducir el contagio de los microbios. Usted puede practicar esto en la casa, pero también puedo hablar con su proveedor de cuidado de niños para asegurarse que ellos tengan políticas sobre el lavado de las manos. Lo mas seguido, que su hijo escuche el mensaje, y lo mas probable que el o ella practiquen  buenos hábitos de la higiene de las manos.

Last week, for the fifth year, Rep. Jill Schupp (D-Creve Coeur) in Missouri introduced a bill to save children’s lives. The bill is called “Nathan’s Law,” after a 3-month-old infant in Missouri who died in a child care program.

If you’re a parent with a young child in child care, chances are you’ve had a call to pick up your child due to some type of illness. Nearly 11 million children under age six are in some type of child care every week. As every parent knows, colds happen. Other illnesses happen too, but recognizing when a child should be excluded from child care and when it’s okay for them to stay in group care, varies by state and by program.

Too many states fail to ensure the safety of children in child care during disasters