From Professional Resources

Away We Grow Study-Info for Agencies

The UBC Nutrition & Metabolism Research Program is looking to reach parents of 12 to 14 month old children to help us with a study to learn what children this age are eating and to understand if current dietary guidelines, foods, and dietary intakes for young children this age are adequate.

We are looking for organizations and community boards to post information about our study to families with young children. These materials could include postcards, brochures, and posters suitable for bulletin boards- whatever suits you.

We hope the information from this study can be used to create better foods for young children and provide better information to parents and health professionals on what nutrients young children need.

Study postcard and poster are attached here:  1-2 yr Study poster-Approved  1-2yr postcard. For more information, or materials for your program, please contact  jmatheson@cfri.ca.

 

 

 

Family FUNdamentals Facilitator Training Invitation

Family FUNdamentals is a comprehensive parenting program for families  with children 2-4 years old. Through interactive (parent/child)  activities, the program helps parents to support the healthy growth and  development of their children by addressing healthy eating, the  importance of play and physical activity as well as social and emotional  wellbeing. Family FUNdamentals is a six week program (1 1/2 hour session  each week). It is delivered by experienced facilitators who have  completed the Family FUNdamentals Facilitator Training.

The next facilitator training session is scheduled as follows:

Dates:       May 30 and 31, 2013

Times:       9 am – 4 pm each day (snacks and lunch will be provided both

days)

Location: I hope family centre, 399 Seymour River Place, North  Vancouver

Cost:     There is no cost to attend the training, but facilitators

must offer the program at least once in their community within six  months after completing the training.

Contact:  Dawn Livera fundamentals@familyservices.bc.ca

Kindness Counts

A recent study by Kimberly Schonert-Reichl and Kristin Layous from the University of British Columbia and the University of California, Riverside, entitled, “Kindness Counts: Prompting Prosocial Behavior in Preadolescence Boosts Peer Acceptance and Well-Being”, surveyed 400 Vancouver students between the ages of 9 and 11 years old. The students were asked to report on their happiness and identify which of their classmates they would like to work on activities with.

Following the initial survey, the students were divided into two groups and had four weeks in which they were randomly assigned to another task by the researchers. The results indicated that although both groups felt that they were happier overall, the children who were asked to perform acts of kindness chose higher numbers of classmates to work on activities with, than the group that was asked to make note of pleasant places they visited during this time.

The researchers emphasize that these findings are important because increased acceptance among peers is a critical goal in that it might result in a decreased likelihood of bullying. According to the study, bullying tends to increase around grades 4 and 5, so implementing pro-social attitudes well before this time in children’s lives may be the most beneficial in terms of bullying prevention
 
Read the full study here.
 
With thanks to Cara Hykawy at BC Council for Families

$10 a Day Childcare, A Key to Ending Family Poverty

CCABC and ECEBC have a new fact sheet , $10 A Day Child Care: A Key to Ending Family Poverty,which explains how affordable, high quality child care is key to an effective poverty reduction strategy, and the impact of poverty on healthy child development. The fact sheet points out that child care fees for children are the second highest family expense (after housing), and that government and business also benefit from public investments in child care. More information about the plan here: http://www.cccabc.bc.ca/plan/.

 

Engaging Fathers In Early Years Programs

In this EYCDI Webinar, recorded October 3rd, 2012, offered best-practices and resources in Father Involvement programming, supporting community agencies to become more father-friendly in their approach to clients, and most significantly, have the opportunity to hear Abby Dads Coordinator Jeff Mclean and Father Involvement Network-BC’s David Sheftel answer questions about effectively engaging fathers in Early Years programs in your community.

 To download the webinar or PDF, Read More

 (source: www.eycdi.ca )

Executive Function: Skills for Learning and Life

Being able to focus, hold and work with information in mind, filter distractions, and switch gears is like having a sophisticated air traffic control system to manage information at a busy airport. Harvard University’s Center on the Developping Child offers this two-page summary—part of the InBrief series—which outlines how these lifelong skills develop, what can disrupt their development, and how supporting them pays off in school and life. Also see this this new online training module , develloped so that early care and learning professionals can better understand and support the development of executive function skills.