Child Care Setting and Its Association With Policies and Practices That Promote Physical Activity and Physical Literacy in the Early Years in British Columbia

Background: Physical activity (PA) is critical to early child development, and child care is a key setting for promotion. The authors investigated differences in daily PA and sedentary behavior practices as well as physical environments between family child care (FCC) and group child care (GCC) settings for children aged 3–5 years in Canada. Methods: Group child care (n = 581) and FCC (n = 357) managers completed surveys assessing the implementation of PA promoting practices and description of their environments. Crosstabulation and chi-square tests of association were used to examine differences between GCC and FCC. Results: The prevalence of facilities implementing 120 minutes of active play (odds ratio [OR] 2.23; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.58–3.15), <30 minutes on screens (OR 1.35; 95% CI, 1.02–1.80), and 60-minute outdoors daily (OR 1.99; 95% CI, 1.4–2.9) was more likely in FCC compared with GCC. However, implementation of fundamental movement skill activities (OR 1.40; 95% CI, 1.01–1.92), breaking up prolonged sitting (OR 1.86; 95% CI, 1.36–2.5), and outdoor space for large group running games (OR 1.74; 95% CI, 1.07–2.83) were more likely in GCC. Conclusions: Child care setting was associated with daily PA and sedentary practices and outdoor space for PA. Interventions to support PA in child care should be tailored to different settings and the facilitators explored.

Feasibility of Training Early Childhood Educators in a Community Child Care Setting Using a Caregiver-mediated Intervention for Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Parent-mediated intervention programs have demonstrated benefits for toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Interest is emerging in other community-level models, such as those that can be integrated into child care settings. These programs have the potential to reach a wide range of high-risk toddlers who spend the majority of their day in child care. The objective of this study was to translate and evaluate the feasibility of the Social ABCs caregiver-mediated intervention program into a community child care setting by training front-line early childhood educators (ECEs). Twenty-two ECEs attended a workshop on early intervention and ASD, and six ECEs and one special needs resource consultant received hands-on intervention training. Nineteen participants completed a workshop quiz, with significant mean improvement of 22.26% from pre- to post-workshop. After 12 weeks of live coaching (4 weeks in one case), participants attained a high level of fidelity in implementing the intervention strategies (> 80%), which was maintained after a 3-month period of non-contact with the training team. Nine of ten specific strategies were mastered after the 12-week training period, with only one technique failing to reach a mean fidelity level of 75%. Findings reveal that the model of training front-line child care staff in a community child care setting is feasible using a relatively short-term training approach.

Applying an Equity Lens to the Child Care Setting

In the current landscape, child care is increasingly being seen as a place for early education, and systems are largely bundling child care in the Early Care and Education sphere through funding and quality measures. As states define school readiness and quality, they often miss critical elements, such as equitable access to quality and cultural traditions. This article provides a summary of the various definitions and structures of child care. It also discusses how the current child care policy conversation can and ought to be infused with a framework grounded in the context of institutional racism and trauma. Models and examples will explore the differences between state government regulations, and how those differ than the regulation and structure of child care in Indian Country.

More than just a bracelet: the use of material symbolism to communicate love

There is growing recognition of the place of love in residential care for children ( Smith, 2009 ). This paper is a critical analysis of a range of existing research on residential child care as well as studies of material culture and of care relationships more broadly. It argues that, despite increasing regulation and surveillance, adults and children find ways to show and feel love in the context of residential care. Whilst love may be regarded as something to be avoided or indeed prohibited in an adult/child care setting these deep bonds find expression in the everyday life of the children’s home. By looking at love in this embodied way, the ‘realness’ of material things to assert connection and recognition of love ( Layne, 2000 ) is examined. As Gorenstein (1996, p.8) suggests ‘objects…[are] the perfect vehicles for conveying themes that are not commonly accepted in a community’. The paper emphasises the recognition of these symbolic and metaphorical forms of communication in practice.