Music is Fun
No matter if you’re playing music with a group or singing in the shower, music is an important outlet. Did you know music can also promote a child’s social, emotional, and cognitive development? Find out more!
Resources
5 Reasons Why Music is Important for Early Childhood Development (Port Discovery)
Why Making Music Matters (Carnegie Hall)
Diversity in Early Childhood
We live in very diverse world and the best early learning environments – at child care and at home-- reflect the diversity of real life. Find out why.
Resources
12 Books to Help Children Understand Race (The Smithsonian Institution)
Talking To Young Children About Race and Racism (PBS)
Children Notice Race Several Years Before Adults Want to Talk About It (American Psychological Association)
An Investment Worth Making
Maryland has shown its commitment to young children through a series of investments and legislation but much more is needed. Learn more.
Resources
Our Accomplishments (Maryland Family Network)
Investments in Early Childhood Development: Reduce Deficits, Strengthen the Economy (The Heckman Equation)
Water Safety
Summer’s here and the time is right…for swimming! That also means it’s time to stay vigilant when your child is in or near the water. Learn more.
Resources
Water Safety for Children (Zero to Three)
Do Your Part, Be Water Smart (The American Red Cross)
We Want a Better Future
In January, National polling data told us that nearly three fourths of voters, across party lines, said they would be willing to provide local funding for early care and education by increasing their own taxes. As we now head full-steam into the 2022 general election season, we need to be asking candidates: “Are you ready to give the people what they want?”
Hunger and Abuse
We must consider not just the bottom line but long-term impacts that benefits, or cutting benefits, can have on a child and on the generations that follow.
Resources
Food assistance program may help prevent child maltreatment (Ohio State University)
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (Maryland Department of Human Services)
How Head Start Can Help You Access Food Assistance (Head Start)
What Hunger Looks Like in Maryland (Feeding America)
Know the Odds Baby
Taking a four-month old to racetrack? No way. Taking a six-month old? That might just be a sure thing!
Resources
Study Shows Six-Month Old Babies Have a Sense of Probability (SciTech Daily)
Peek A Boo (Parent Trust for Washington Children)
Safe Sleep 2022
The American Academy of Pediatrics has changed their safe sleep recommendations for the first time since 2016. Roughly 3,500 infants die from sleep-related infant deaths annually in the United States but many of these are preventable.
Resources
American Academy of Pediatrics Updates Safe Sleep Recommendations: Back is Best (American Academy of Pediatrics)
Happy Birthday America
Maryland will become a haven for women seeking freedom of reproductive choice. Yet many, mostly poor women of color, will not have access to the refuge Maryland and other states provide. Let’s agree to provide a solid future for their children regardless of our personal politics.
Resources
The Turnaway Study (University of California San Francisco)
The State of America's Children (Children's Defense Fund)
Proud Children and Families
June is Pride Month and children of same sex parents have even more reasons to be proud: they’re doing great. But only when we create systems that support all families, do we all have a reason to be proud.