It was great news recently, when the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) announced it is asking its 62,000 members to urge parents to read to their children as soon as they’re born. For the first time, the AAP will promote early literacy—beginning from an infant’s very first days—as an “essential” component of primary care visits. Read More
It’s everywhere…and in more ways than one
I’ve been watching our four 3-year-old grandchildren demonstrate STEM skills. They turned over rocks to look for worms and found “creatures” hiding in puddles at Kincaid Beach. They planned and built Lego spaceships and tall towers and knocked them apart to see how the pieces would fall. They passed along my iPad when the timer Read More
We must change it!
Recently I learned this heartbreaking 2012 statistic: 47% of Alaska children with substantiated reports of harm were under the age of 6. These are our youngest and most vulnerable precious children. More than a million children in America experience child maltreatment each year – Alaska has among the highest per capita rates of child abuse Read More
Hectic lives
“Hectic” is how many young parents I know describe their everyday lives. Yet they really want to spend time with their young children and help those brains grow. Over the years, as a parent and now a grandparent, I’ve learned a few tricks. Busy times often present wonderful opportunities for your child to explore the Read More
Why the 30 million word gap is so important
Our words count. In more ways than many of us ever realized. It’s been 18 years since Betty Hart and Todd Risley published their landmark study on the giant gap – 30 million – in words heard by young children depending on their socio-economic status. In the last six months, we’ve seen an explosion of Read More
Attendance matters, even in child care
If somebody asks whether showing up for work every day makes a difference in how well someone does his job, you’d probably think, “Of course it does.” We have the same response about students’ attendance at school. To mark September as the first-ever Attendance Awareness Month, Debi Baldwin (a Best Beginnings board member and director Read More
Our role in Imagination Library: Something quite different
You might be surprised to learn that Best Beginnings doesn’t enroll a single child in Imagination Library. Yet through Best Beginnings and our generous supporters, 20,772 children – 38.5% of all Alaska children under 5 – are now receiving a book every month through their local Imagination library. So what exactly do we do? We Read More
New statistic raises important questions
All Alaska children begin school ready to succeed – that’s Best Beginnings’ vision. But how do we know if they are “ready to succeed”? Here’s a startling new statistic. Fewer than 20 percent of children entering kindergarten in Alaska are prepared in all the ways experts say is important for success in school. That’s according Read More
Our Voices Count
Talk about a frenetic time. When the House Finance Subcommittee on Education unexpectedly reduced funding for Best Beginnings and Parents as Teachers, people who believe in what we’re doing came out of the woodwork to share their stories. We won’t have a final answer on funding for early learning until the operating budget is approved. Read More
Imagination Library books for Alaska Native Medical Center Newborns
The Healthy Alaska Natives Foundation (HANF) is continuing its support of Imagination Library for a second year in a row. With its contribution to Best Beginnings, the foundation funds Imagination Library for Alaska Native Medical Center newborns. HANF seeks to inspire a great start to a healthy life, in part by helping children be ready Read More
