You are probably familiar with this old saying: if you don’t know where you’re headed, any path will take you there. Here at Best Beginnings, we have embarked on a three-year plan that definitely tells us where we are headed and lays out several paths to get us there! From FY 2018-FY 2020, Best Beginnings Read More
Our New Website is Live
Take a look at our new website! A component of our three-year plan, the website has been redesigned with parents of young children in mind. It has a fresh, contemporary, clean look, and parents are telling us how easy it is to navigate. From the homepage, you can easily go to the main buckets for content: Read More
The Week of the Young Child
Young children deserve recognition and support every day of the year. However, there’s one particular week in which we pay special attention to young children, their families, and the early care and learning programs and teachers that support them. The Week of the Young Child is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education Read More
Preventing Child Abuse
Did you “Go Blue” on Friday, April 6th? If you did, you joined hundreds of Alaskans who wore blue to show their support for National Child Abuse Prevention Month. April is National Child Abuse Prevention month, a nationwide effort to raise public awareness about and take a stand against child abuse and neglect. It is Read More
When 1 in 3 Alaska children live in poverty, quality family time is precious.
Numerous studies corroborate what we know through observation and experience: children growing up in families with limited resources and supports are not always adequately prepared for kindergarten. They are less likely to be good readers by third grade, graduate from high school, stay out of the public assistance system, or avoid going to jail. But Read More
Media and Young Children Today
It wasn’t that long ago when “screen time” meant time spent watching television – parents were advised to set limits on how much time a child spent sitting in front of a TV and not to put a TV in a child’s bedroom. These days it’s far more complicated. TV is still a player, but Read More
Give Great Books to Kids on Your Holiday List
The holiday season is gift-giving time for many families with young children. While we often spend a lot of effort deciding which toy a special child might enjoy, books are also a wonderful gift for that child! Here are some ideas for you about matching books with children’s ages and a fabulous list of suggestions Read More
Talk is Cheap – and Priceless.
People say talk is cheap, but for babies, talk is priceless. Talking with babies has been shown to have an amazing impact on the growth of their brains and development of language, key to their future success in school and in life. And, unlike products that are advertised to parents as critical to making their Read More
Good News & Bad
There’s good news and bad news. The good news is that the Legislature has passed an operating budget that includes funding for early childhood — $320,000 for Best Beginnings, $500,000 for Parents as Teachers, and $2 million for PreK grants. A big Thank You! to all those concerned Alaskans who met with, called, and emailed Read More
Old and New Favorite Picture Books
See how engaged this little boy is in one of Mo Willems’ books? He’s on his way to becoming a good reader! I love children’s books, too, especially picture books. Some favorites of my crowd of 6-and-under grandchildren these days are books that delight and engage adult readers as well: Any of the Elephant and Read More
