Children Left Unattended in Vehicles

From the Department of Social Services

Making safety a part of your daily routine can be the difference between life and death for a child in your care. Fifteen children in the United States have already died in 2012 due to heat strokes after being left unattended in vehicles. Leaving a child inside a vehicle with the windows rolled up - even a few minutes – can have deadly consequences.

A recent study conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics showed that in just one hour, vehicle temperatures can reach up to 117 degrees Fahrenheit even though it is only 72 degrees outside. That same study reported that cars with cracked windows can still result in temperatures rising 19 degrees in just 10 minutes.

A reminder to child care providers:

Never leave a child unattended in a vehicle. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, Section 102417(k) (2) for Family Child Care Homes, prohibits children from being left in parked cars.

Make it part of your everyday routine to account for all children in your care.

• Always make a habit of looking in the vehicle, front and back, before locking the door and walking away.
• Do things to serve as a reminder that a child is in the vehicle, such as placing a purse or briefcase in the back seat to ensure no child is accidentally left in the vehicle. Writing a note or using a stuffed animal placed in the driver’s view to indicate a child is in the car seat.

Visit the (DMV) website to view the Prohibition Against Unattended Child in Vehicle Act (also known as "Kaitlyn's Law") incorporated into the California Vehicle Code (Division 6.7). This law makes it an infraction punishable by a fine of $100.00 for a parent, guardian or other person responsible for a child 6 years of age or younger, to leave the child in their care in a motor vehicle without supervision.

Eco Healthy Child Care: Pesticides

Don't Bug Me

From Eco Healthy Child Care

 

A pesticide is anything used inside or outside to prevent, control, repel, or kill insects, plants and other pests. The main concern is children’s exposure to pesticides that contain harmful chemicals. Many chemical pesticides can spread through the air when they are sprayed, and then seep into the soil and water.

 

It's important that child care centers and homes are free of chemical pesticides.  Even low levels of some pesticide exposure are a threat to young developing bodies. Many pesticides take a very long time to break down. They persist indoors for weeks on furniture, toys and other surfaces and can persist for years on household dust. Research indicates that levels of pesticides in indoor air are often ten times higher than those measured in outdoor air.

 

Usually there are non-chemical solutions that work just as well as pesticides:

• Clean up food and drink spills immediately (Pests need food to survive)

• Fix water leaks (pests need water to survive)

• Seal cracks and holes (insect entrances)

• Use environmentally friendly strategies to deter pests

• Keep trash in a closed container and remove frequently

• Maintain healthy soil to deter weeds and eliminate habitats favorable to pests (remove standing water)

For more info visit: http://www.oeconline.org/

Keys To A Great Book Center

Quality Reading

Ever look at your selection of books and wonder whether you have a quality book center available to the children? You may have a huge assortment of books but you may find that it’s not balanced or you may not be providing enough of some types of books. You may wonder whether your selection is enough or well equipped. We have some simple tips based on the Family Child Care Environmental Rating Scale (FCCERS-R) to help you determine whether or not your reading area meets the standards for quality.

 

You should have a minimum of twelve appropriate books for each child’s age range in your child care program (infants, toddlers, preschool and school-age) or at least a minimum of two books per child if you have more than 7 children in any age group. These books should be easily accessible to the children, as in they must be able to get to them without any help. 

 

 Infant books can be put in baskets on the floor, on low shelves where they can reach them or can be placed near enough to them that they can reach them.  Non-mobile infants can have fabric, vinyl and/or board books placed within reach.  

 

Toddlers and older children should easily be able to reach their books but their books should be out of reach of infants to prevent the books from being mouthed and becoming torn or damaged which can create a safety issue for your infants.  You can also simply supervise your mobile infants very well and keep them away from the books with paper pages. 

 

All books should be in reasonably good repair with no torn or missing covers or pages, no scribbles and not chewed on.  You can teach the children about taking care of the books, the proper way to use the books and explain what happens when the books are mistreated ... they get damaged and we can't read them anymore!  Doing this each time you welcome a new child and reminding the children about how to care for the books every few months will make it routine and eventually even the toddlers will pick up on it and you'll be able to do less supervision in the book area.

 

Your selection should have 3-5 examples from each category available:

• Fantasy (fiction)
• Non-Fiction (factual books with realistic pictures about animals, plants, real life experiences, familiar objects, routines etc.)
• People (different races, ages, gender)
• Realistic books about animals and their homes with realistic pictures
• Books about science (five senses, human body, nature etc.)
• Multicultural books (historical/contemporary people of different races/cultures, books in other languages etc.)
• Different abilities (eyeglasses, hearing aids, wheelchair, crutches etc.).

Keep in mind that this does not mean that you have to have 3-5 books from each category, only that there should be 3-5 examples of each in your library.  One book could include several categories. 

 

For example: "Be Quiet Marina!" (one of my favorites, and not just because it includes my name in the title) is a book about two  real children, each with a different special need, and how they worked through their differences to create a great friendship.  This book is non-fiction, is about young girl children (people) and shows children with different abilities (one girl has down syndrome and the other has cerebral palsy).  You just provided 1 example of 3 categories with one book.

 

You should also have extra books which you can use to rotate your library so that the children do not become disinterested in your book center. Your book center should be inviting and away from high traffic areas and other active centers. Add comfortable child size furniture or pillows and cushions so that the children can relax and rest peacefully. Give your book center a special name to help the children identify the center. “The Library”, “Reading Center”, “Quiet Center” or “Book Nook” all give the center a name which describes the purpose of the center. Once you have followed these simple tips you can be assured that your book center meets the standards of quality.

 

 

*Infants: 0-12 months, Toddlers: 12-30 months, Preschool 30 months to Kindergarten, School-age: 1st grade and older.

Recycling Guidance

Recycle, Reuse, Reduce

Recycling helps our environment tremendously by saving room in our landfills and reducing energy needed to create new products. 

Here's what you can recycle:

1. Paper:  This includes newspaper and everything that comes in it, magazines, colored paper and all junk mail that is delivered to your home.
2. Plastic:  All hard plastics labeled with numbers 1 through 7 including nursery pots, yogurt containers and even toys are recyclable!
3. Metal:  Steel, aluminum, aluminum foil etc. are all recyclable. 
4. Glass:  All food & beverage containers
5. Cardboard:  Flattened boxes

Here's what you can't:

1. Batteries:· Batteries contain heavy metals like mercury, nickel, lead and cadmium, which can contaminate the environment if improperly disposed of.
2. Styrofoam:
3. Waxed Cardboard:

To go above and beyond simply recycling try rinsing out all food and drink containers and flatten all cardboard boxes.  Doing this reduces the amount of time it takes for items to go through the cleaning and breakdown process at the recycling plant.  Reducing this time reduces the amount of financial resources needed to pay for this time.

DID YOU KNOW?
PAPER

• More space can be saved in our landfills by recycling paper products than any other materials.
• Each piece of paper can be recycled up to 5 times before the fibers become weak.
• Every day 44 million newspapers are thrown away in the trash.  That's the equivalent of throwing 500,000 trees in the landfill every week.
• Each ton of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil and 7,000 gallons of water.
• If each person were to reuse a paper shopping bag for just one trip to the store, we would save 60,000 trees.

ALUMINIUM

• It takes about 95% less energy to make aluminum from recycled aluminum than to make it from raw materials.
• Recycling a single aluminum can saves enough energy to power your television for three hours or to run a 100-watt light bulb for almost four hours.
• aluminum dumped into our landfills today will remain there for over 200 years.

 
PLASTICS

• Plastic bags made from recycled polythene rather than virgin materials save two thirds of the energy required for production and reduce the water used by almost 90%.
• Recycling is still important however, because there are many items that can be made from recycled plastics. These items include garbage cans, picnic tables, fiber-fill for vests and jackets, traffic cones and many others. 5 Purchasing items such as these that are made from recycled materials will help to further support this industry.
• Although food and yard trimmings are biodegradable these often sit for long periods of time unable to be broken down through the plastic bags they are stored in.

 
GLASS:
 

• Glass is 100% recyclable and can go from the recycling bin to a store shelf in as little as 30 days!
• Glass can be reused an infinite number of times.
• Recycling one ton of glass saves the equivalent of nine gallons of fuel oil and one sixth of a ton of carbon dioxide!
• Making a glass container from a recycled container creates about 20% less air pollution, 50% less water pollution and uses only about half the energy of making it from virgin materials.
• Recycling a single glass bottle can save enough energy to light a 100-watt light bulb for 4 hours!

 
STYROFOAM
 

• Each year Americans throw away 25 trillion Styrofoam cups. This is enough to circle the earth 436 times.
• Harmful chemicals are released into the atmosphere during the production of Styrofoam. These chemicals have been shown to degrade the Earth’s ozone layer. 10

 
WAXED CARDBOARD
 

• Waxed cardboard cannot be recycled. It can only be recycled as mixed paper and many recycling plants will not even accept it meaning that it will end up in the trash.

Do you know of any other products that are or aren't recyclable?

Ways To Go Green

You Can Do It

Going “green” doesn’t have to be difficult. Trying to go completely “green” all at once can be overwhelming so why not pledge to go “green” one small step at a time. It will take time to create new habits and getting your household on board will be easier if your changes are made over an extended period of time. Here are just some ways that you can make your business and household more environmentally friendly.

Avoid Bringing It Home

• Ask for paper grocery bags instead of plastic bags and recycle them.  Better yet, use reusable fabric bags instead. Reusing a paper bag just once can save up to 60,000 trees, imagine how many trees can be saved if we all used reusable bags?
• Purchase items that have less packaging. Even though it's good, recycling is very difficult because the separation process for the different types of products is labor intensive and not cost efficient.
• When you go out to eat take your own Tupperware with you to package your leftovers instead of using the restaurant's Styrofoam, tin or plastic disposable containers.
• Take your own reusable cup with you when you go to the coffee shop.  Most large chains will give you a discount if you take your own cup saving both the environment and money!

In The General Home

• Use "green" household cleaners to clean your home or make your own natural cleaning products.
• Recycle
• Switch your light bulbs to CFL's
• Fix leaky faucets
• Use energy efficient appliances with the Energy Star label.
• Save paper and get paperless statements.  Pay your bills online.
• Conduct a Do-It-Yourself Home Energy Assessment

In The Kitchen

• Instead of using disposable plates and utensils for your daycare and events try using reusable dishes and flatware instead.

Toys

• Use rechargeable batteries in your toys and other items. Each rechargeable battery can substitute for hundreds of single use batteries.
• Hard plastic is recyclable so instead of throwing those old or broken toys in the garbage donate them or recycle them.
• Before buying new toys or games check Craigslist or Freecycle.

Activities

• Have a box or bin for scrap-paper and let your kids use it for art & craft activities and to color on the back side of the used paper.

100 Greatest Books For Kids

Hooked On Books

Are you having a hard time trying to find and pick out good books for your library?  Parent and Child Magazine compiled a list of 100 greatest  books for kids and here they are.  I have broken down by age:

Ages 0-3

• Goodnight Moon by E.B. White
• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
• Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt
• Courduroy by Don Freeman
• Black on White by Tana Hoban
• The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
• Freight Train by Donald Crews
• Moo, Baa, La, La, La! by Sandra Boynton
• Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
• What Do You See? by Bill Martin
• Sylvia Long's Mother Goose by Silvia Long
• Smile! by Roberta Grobel Intrater
• Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes by Annie Kubler
• My Truck Is Stuck by Kevin Lewis
• Counting Kisses: A Kiss and Read Book by Karen Katz
• Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman
• Peek-A-Who? Nina Laden
• Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney
• No No Yes Yes by Leslie Patricelli
• Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard
• What Shall We Do With the Boo Boo Baby? by Cressida Cowell
• Gossie by Olivier Dunrea
• First Words by Roger Priddy

Ages 4-7

• The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack
• Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
• The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
• Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
• The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds
• Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems
• The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
• Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems
• The Mitten by Jan Brett
• Swimmy by Leo Lionni
• The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don & Audrey Wood
• What Do People Do All Day? by Richard Scarry
• Not a Box by Antoinette Portis
• Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport
• The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne
• Dear Juno by Soyung Pak
• The Lion & the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney
• Birds by Kevin Henkes
• Blackout by John Rocco
• Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
• What Do You Do With A Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page
• Yoko by Rosemary Wells
• Interupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein
• An Egg Is Quiet by Dianna Hutts Aston
• I Took The Moon For A Walk by Carolyn Curtis
• Animalia by Graeme Base

Ages 8-10

• Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
• Frog and Toad are Friends Arnold Lobel
• The Wind in the Willow by Kenneth Grahame
• When Marian Sang by Pam Munoz
• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shell Silverstein
• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
• Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin
• My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother by Patricia Polacco
• The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett
• Zen Shorts by John J. Muth
• Matilda by Roald Dahl
• The Composition by Antonio Skarmeta
• Sarak, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
• Living Sunlight by Molly Bang & Penny Chisholm
• Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez by Kathleen Krull
• Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin
• The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan
• The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks by Joanna Cole
• Tea With Milk by Allen Say
• Hill Fly Guy by Tedd Arnold
• Ivy + Bean by Annie Barrows
• Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
• Puss in Boots by Charles Perault
• We the Kids: The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States by David Catrow
• The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey

Ages 11+

• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
• Harry Potter and the Scorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
• The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
• Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
• Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit
• Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
• The Giver by Lois Lowry
• Are You There God?  It's Margaret by Judy Blume
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
• The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
• Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
• The Lightning Theif by Rick Riordan
• Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges
• The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
• The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznik
• Esperenza Rising by Pam Munoz
• Bridge to Terabithia by Katerine Paterson
• Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O'Brien
• Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russel Freedman
• Rules by Cynthia Lord
• Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon by Catherine Thimmesh
• A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
• Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman

Crib Safety Standards

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has approved new standards for cribs which have not been updated in almost 30 years. The main focus was aimed more towards traditional cribs with drop-side rails which have been associated with at least 32 infant suffocation and strangulation deaths since 2000 however a press release from the CPSC stated that “additional deaths have occurred due to faulty or defective hardware”. The goal of these new safety standards is to prevent additional deaths and to make cribs safer for infants and children to sleep in.

For manufacturers this means that as of June, 2011 all cribs made or sold in the U.S. must meet these new federal safety standards which bans the sale and manufacture of traditional drop-down cribs, requires that crib mattress supports and crib hardware be stronger and more durable and makes safety testing more rigorous. Childcare centers (CC) and family child care homes (FCC) will have until December, 2012 to get cribs which meet these new standards. Most cribs manufactured before June, 2011 do not meet these new standards it is not recommended that these be purchase or used which, even if they look safe, may not meet the new safety regulations and could have loose or missing hardware, creating gaps which could trap a child.

Make no mistake; this ban is not only against drop-side cribs but rather unsafe cribs in general. If you have a crib that was manufactured prior to June 2011, chances are, your crib won’t meet the new standards. You can check to see if your crib meets the new safety standards by finding your crib’s model and serial number then contacting the manufacturer and asking them if the crib meets the 16 CFR 1219 standards. If it meets the new requirements you will need a certificate of compliance from the manufacturer which you can keep in your records.

What do you do with a crib that does not meet the new crib standards? The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says that “A consumer should not resell, donate or give away a crib that does not meet the new crib standards, such as trying to resell the product through an online auction site or donating to a local thrift store” and recommends disassembling the crib before discarding it. It is also important to note that collapsible and portable cribs with mess sides (such as play yards and pack’n’plays) are not affected by the new crib standards.

More information about the new crib standards can be found here.