The Problem:

The average 4- to 5-year-old child consumes 17 teaspoons of added sugar each day, or 65 pounds per year! The majority of that sugar comes from fruit drinks, high-fat desserts, soft drinks, and candy.

Over 9,000 children under six experience homelessness in Kansas and over one million nationwide. These children face an increased risk of experiencing developmental delays, physical health and social-emotional problems. Early childhood, specifically infancy, is the stage of life correlated with the highest risk of residing in a homeless shelter. High quality early childhood education, including trusting relationships with early childhood professional can buffer children and families from the challenges associated with homelessness by supporting children’s learning and development in secure, stable, and nurturing environments. Overwhelmed parents and caregivers can more easily focus on meeting their goals toward stable housing, employment/training, and other services if they know their child is safe and receiving quality care. This blog post provides guidance on identifying families of young children in your community who may be experiencing homelessness and points to valuable local and federal resources.

This past weekend was Grandparents Day. As I visited my parents with kids in tow, I realized how pivotal my parents have been in helping me raise my kids. My older two kids are tweens now, but when they were in child care my mom picked them up so my husband and I didn’t have to rush home from work before the “witching hour” (that’s 6 p.m. when the child care centers closed and charged you per minute you were late). And my youngest child, age 3, was cared for by my parents (both retired educators now) until he was 2 years old. No wonder my kids think my parent’s home is their home!

It hardly seems possible that we are in the midst of transitioning from preschool to kindergarten with our oldest child. How did that curious little infant we had five years ago move so quickly through toddlerhood and preschool?

As a mom who has experience in transitioning children from child care to school, I’d like to share some tips with parents that are experiencing this for the first time this fall.

My 9-year-old son has already made the transition from home child care to preschool, then to an elementary school to after school care. I also have a daughter who will be soon making the transition from child care to a preschool center this fall.

A solar eclipse will take place on Monday, August 21 for the first time in the lower 48 U.S. states since 1979. During a solar eclipse, the moon passes between the sun and the Earth and blocks all or part of the sun for up to three hours, from beginning to end. On Monday, the longest period when the moon will completely block the sun—a total eclipse—will be about 2 minutes and 40 seconds and will only happen along the “path of totality” (below).