Once again, research is catching up to what parents, grandparents, and other caring adults in a child’s life know – positive interactions between adult and young child have a lasting impact. LENA researchers have recently released a paper, “Language Experience in the Second Year of Life and Language Outcomes in Late Childhood,” that confirms what Read More
Sticking To It
Many of us pride ourselves on being multi-taskers. We believe we can get more things checked off our task list if we do several of them at the same time. In the workplace, that’s generally by choice. At home with children, especially at certain times of the day, being able to multi-task seems a necessity! Science Read More
Social-Emotional Skills for Life
We all want our young children to get along with other kids and adults, to follow directions, and to behave appropriately, especially in public! We know instinctively having these qualities and skills will make life smoother for them, at home, at school, with their friends. But did you know these qualities and skills are precisely Read More
Preparing for Kindergarten
Is your child one in 10,000? This August, about 10,000 Alaska children will enter kindergarten, the beginning of their formal school years. Will your child be one of that group of 10,000? When children enrolled in Imagination Library turn 5, their last book is Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come! Many parents send us photos of Read More
We Know Where We’re Headed
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
