Friday, March 11, 2011

Daylight Savings Time Begins Sunday

Don't forget this Sunday to turn your clock ahead an hour for daylight savings time.

It's only an hour change, but that small 60-minute shift can have a whopper of an effect on children. "That hour is even more difficult for kids to deal with than flying cross-country to a whole new time zone," says Jodi Mindell, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia who specializes in pediatric sleep. "It can throw off their sleep, appetite, attention span, mood, everything." Why? A child's body clock is set by light and dark patterns, not by what it reads on your watch, Mindell explains. When you travel to a new time zone, it's still light and dark at the same points during the day. With daylight saving time, though, that changes, and it can take seven to ten days for a child's internal clock to "reset." These simple strategies will help ensure you're not faced with a tired, cranky mess of a kid come March 14.


Begin shifting your child's bedtime a day -- or, better yet, several days -- before the time change. If she usually goes down at 8:00, for example, have her under the covers by 7:45 the first night and 7:30 the next. "It's a small enough change that she should still be able to fall asleep, and it will help make it less of a shock on Sunday night," Mindell says.


Stick to your current daytime routine. Once the time change occurs, continue to have your child's meals, snacks, naps, bedtimes, everything, at the same time as usual, Mindell says.

Expose your child to bright light first thing in the morning (the indoor kind works) to reprogram her internal clock faster.

From http://www.parenting.com/
By Shaun Dreisbach

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Connect with other families with diabetes

COME TO FAMILY LINK NIGHT, MEET OTHER FAMILIES LIVING WITH DIABETES

Free event offers support for every member of the family

 
Come to Family Link Night with the American Diabetes Association and meet other families who live with diabetes! This fun, FREE, kid-friendly evening includes dinner, social time and educational speakers geared to kids with diabetes, parents, and siblings. The event is open to families of children ages 10 to 18 who have diabetes. Join us Friday, March 11, 2011, from 5:15 to 9:30 p.m., at IU Health North Hospital (11700 N. Meridian Street, Carmel). To reserve your spot, contact Carol Dixon by March 7 at cdixon@diabetes.org or 317-352-9226. Registration starts at 5:15 p.m. on March 11, dinner begins at 6 p.m. and the event concludes at 9:30 p.m.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

State of Indiana Child Care Rating and Improvement System, Paths to QUALITY™, leads the Country and Reaches a Milestone


Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Indiana is celebrating the 2,000th child care program enrolled in Paths to QUALITY. Of the more than 540,000 children in Indiana between the ages of birth and five years, an estimated 350,000 (66%) will need some type of child care. Recognizing the importance of high quality child care and the difficulty families face in identifying and choosing a high quality child care provider, Indiana launched its four-level quality rating and improvement system known as Paths to QUALITY. At each level, providers progressively meet standards that research has shown to be best for children, with the highest level being the attainment of national accreditation. Each level represents a greater commitment to the professional development and educational achievement of the child care providers.

The country is watching and learning from Indiana’s enormous participation rates and its progress in achieving higher ratings as higher quality child care is implemented. “I believe the Indiana Paths to QUALITY system is one of the best – if not THE best – Quality Rating and Improvement Systems in our country. Indiana used lessons learned from its privately funded pilot projects and combined them with research to develop a system that is inclusive and gives child care providers from all segments of the industry the opportunity to improve their programs. It also gives parents an easily understood way to evaluate quality. By building on the existing Child Care Resource and Referral System, Indiana avoided duplication of efforts and saved taxpayers countless dollars. Paths to QUALITY is a win-win for everyone,” says Linda Smith, Executive Director of the National Association for Child Care Resource and Referral agencies (NACCRRA).

Marsha Thompson, Executive Director of the Indiana Association for Child Care Resource and Referral states, “Indiana’s Child Care Resource and Referral system is proud to be a partner in Paths to QUALITY and of the positive outcomes being realized for Indiana’s families, children, and child care professionals. We want families to know that our local agencies are there to help them locate high quality child care. We want to acknowledge the efforts of 2,000 child care programs that have chosen to voluntarily participate in Paths to QUALITY for the benefit of children and families in Indiana.”

In the region that Child Care Answers, serves Hamilton, Hendricks, Johnson and Marion Counties. In these counties a total of 404 providers are enrolled with 279 being Level 1, 43 Level 2, 50 Level 3 AND 32 Level 4. To find out which child care programs are participating you may call (317) 631-4643 or visit http://www.childcareanswers.com/.

To learn more about Paths to QUALITY visit http://www.childcareindiana.org/.