Local Resources Health Resources
Safety Resources Nutritional Resources
Local Resources
dba Child Care Aware of Eastern Kansas
2518 Ridge Court (Inside United Way Building)
Lawrence, KS 66046
Phone: 785-865-0669- Marie
Hours: Tuesday, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., & by appointment.
Website:childcareaware.org
Childcare Aware Newsletters: http://east.ks.childcareaware.org
ERC/Child Care Aware is a non-profit community service offering parents assistance primarily in finding quality childcare. Resource books are also available for check out. ERC can be a big boost to stay-at-home parents that have no formal education for the young child at this time, but wish to offer enriching language-arts activities. They supply tips on interviewing and selecting the best provider/facility for your child, as well as materials on parenting classes, support groups, activities for children and creative ways to encourage child development.
2145 Louisiana St.
Lawrence, KS 66044
(785) 843-3059
https://tinyk.org/
Tiny-K Early Intervention is a non-profit community service available to parents for children birth to age 3 with special needs. Tiny-K offers services to the child in their home or childcare environment. These are free to residents of Douglas County. If your child is over 3 and has special needs, please contact the Lawrence school district, USD497, at Kennedy Elementary, 785-330-4426. Or visit their website at www.usd497.org
1900 Delaware St.
Lawrence, KS 66046
Phone: 785-842-9679
www.positivebrightstart.org/
Positive Bright Start offers scholarships and financial aid to families with children from Birth to 5-years-old. They also have a mental health team and their own preschool classroom for children that might benefit from small class sizes and additional supports.
Health Resources
Please CLICK HERE to download.
www.cdc.gov/Features/ChildHealth
This site offers tips to parents for ways to keep their children healthy. They address physical activity, dental health, avoiding tobacco, and eating right. Each section has action items that tell you specifically what you can do. There are links to detailed pages that offer checklists, fact sheets, reports, initiative information, posters, recommendations, other resource links, and videos.
www.zerotothree.org
This website is for parents and educators as well as advocators for children's well-being. Their focus is on infants, toddlers and families. The site offers interactive tools, articles, videos, and podcasts to listen to. There are downloadable checklists and charts. You can explore many sections which include broadly; care & education, abuse, behavior & development, and public policy.
www.cdc.gov/LifeStages
This section focuses on the health of people of all ages, but parents and teachers can search for infants (0-3 yrs) and children (4-11 yrs) specifically. It covers developmental milestones, raising healthy children, child safety, and diseases and conditions. There is a lot of information here and even more than a dozen parent videos to watch. There are also links to other websites that include information on child care, maternal health, child support, health insurance, and recalls to name some.
www.actionforhealthykids.org
The main focus for this website is on fighting childhood obesity. They have grants available for schools who want to create breakfast programs, recess and other physical initiative policies and programs. They encourage family fitness nights, field days, and school wellness committees. As research shows that children who are active and eat right are more successful in school, they advocate reducing and preventing, not just childhood obesity from overeating and eating the wrong foods, but also from undernourishment, and inactivity.
Safety Resources
1)
Children under 1 year of age must ride in a rear-facing child seat until
they reach at least 1 year old and 20 lbs.
2) Children ages 1, 2,
and 3 must be properly restrained in a forward-facing child seat.
3) Children ages 4, 5, 6,
& 7 are required to ride in a booster seat unless the child weighs
more than 80 lbs, OR the child is taller than 4' 9", OR only a lap
belt is available.
4) Children ages 8
through 13 must be protected by a seat belt. It is recommended
children under 13 do not ride in the front seat of a vehicle.
Booster seats are available at department stores, toy stores, and stores such as Target and
Wal-Mart. A no-back booster costs about $15.00 and a high-back from
$20 to $100 depending on the style. You can always call 1-866-SEAT
CHECK for the location of the nearest child seat inspection station. Also, check your area car dealerships for periodic Car Seat Safety Checks.
The lap belt should rest low across the pelvic area on the hip bones. The lap belt should never rest on the stomach area. Make sure the shoulder belt is snug across the chest and rests flat across the
center of the collar bone; the shoulder belt should never be placed behind
a child's back or under the arm. The booster seat should follow the
child. Make sure carpools, child care providers, family, and friends
have access to your child's booster seat.
www.safekids.org
This site covers children from birth to age 14. This is an amazing site including about everything you could think of from links to CPSC recalls to travel safety and grill safety info sheets. Risk areas include, pool, car, bike, medication, sports, toy, playground, pedestrian, and travel safety and prevention of falls, strangulation, choking, suffocation, drowning, fire, heatstroke, and poisoning. There are a couple dozen research reports, stories from other parents, fact sheets, and a blog. There is a media section for reporters to get press releases and position statements. The Parent Center has safety guides, recall information, and monthly newsletters. You can search by safety risk area or by age. There is even a section on keeping the special needs child safe in the home. It includes burn, fall, choking, and poison prevention for the special needs child.
www.cpsc.gov
The home page has the most recent recall information for all products much in Spanish as well as English. Right under the current recall information is a button for 'View all Recalls' or 'Search Recalls.' If you search you can look for toys or for child products that are not toys. You can also search by month, by product type, description or company. The website also allows you to report a product you think is unsafe, receive RSS feeds, or get email notifications. There are also safety tips and product warnings on everything from dehumidifiers to bleachers. From the recall page you can also click on "Especially for Kids" linking to pages with games and quizzes for children.
www.nhtsa.gov
While this site covers everything to do with vehicles and our highway safety, there is quite a lot of information for the parent of a young child. The first thing you're likely to see when you hit the home page is the "Look Before You Lock" campaign to prevent children's death from heatstroke when left in a locked car. You can read research about child car seats and laws about child passenger safety. In the 'Driving Safety' section you can find the most information for children. The bike sub-section has tips on how to fit your helmet, children's activities, videos to watch, and a whole section in Spanish with videos, checklists, and downloadable activity kits. . The child safety section covers primarily safety in and around cars. It discusses proper installation and use of car seats and has lists of recalled seats. It has car seat recommendations, laws by state, and a car seat inspection station locator. There is also information on trunk entrapment, vehicle rollaway, backovers, power windows, heatstroke, and seat belt entanglement.
www.childrenssafetynetwork.org
There is a tremendous amount of information on this website. Some information is available through webinars; some are links to current event articles and research. They have newsletters and special newsletters that are written with a particular theme in mind, such as water safety, bike safety, car safety, etc… Though it does cover children through teenage years, including teen driver safety, bullying, and teen dating violence, there is much about the young child from strangulation and fire hazards to poison and drowning prevention. There is even rural and farm safety which I found unique to this site.
www.nfpa.org
If you click on 'Families and Educators,' it leads to links for various informational pages. You can download an inspection checklist for your home, send an email to "Sparky the Fire Dog," go to Sparky's website, sign up to receive education newsletters, download fact sheets and fire safety education messages. The community tool kits are particularly helpful to parents and educators with downloadable pages for use with children.
Nutritional Resources
www.choosemyplate.gov
First you can check out the '10 Tips Nutrition Education Series.' This comprehensive list has one page printable sheets for a wide assortment of topics including 'choose my plate,' 'kid friendly veggies and fruits,' 'be a healthy role model for children,' and 'cut back on your kid's sweet treats,' to name a few. You can get Choose My Plate printable and savable graphic resources. The website has videos and information for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, as well as information for children ages 2-5 and 6-11. The preschool section has daily food plans and sample meals and snacks. There is a growth chart, help for picky eaters, and recommendations for being a healthy role model, planning more activity, and developing healthy eating habits.
www.nationaldairycouncil.org/childnutrition/Pages/
As stated on their website, "Children ages 2 – 8 are encouraged to consume 2 cups of milk or equivalent milk products each day, as recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans." This website touts the value of milk and flavored milk for children including handouts and presentations. They list sample school menus for breakfast and lunch as well as the nutrient information for children in grades K-5. There is also a Child Nutrition Health Education Kit and a parent information area.
www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org
You should fill half your plate with fruits and veggies this site claims. This site includes recipes for fruits and veggies as well as tips on healthy preparation. There are videos, 80 healthy menus and meals, and on-the-go fruit and veggie ideas. There are tips for healthy school lunches and 'brain food' for children, as well as ways to get kids to eat veggies. There are links to Michelle Obama's website 'Let's Move' and their kid's website, 'Food Champs.org,' which teaches children about fruit and vegetable nutrition through games, printable recipe cards for kids, coloring pages, art, & activity pages.
www.eatright.org/childhoodobesity
The healthy start section covers nutrition during pregnancy and early childhood. There are sections on eating right affordably and the importance of regular physical activity. In the 'eating right at school' section there are tips for good breakfast, lunch, and snack choices at school, and position papers on school wellness programs. There are fact sheets available and they promote the importance of parents and caregivers practicing what they teach and being role models for teaching children about the value of nutrition and exercise.
www.lalecheleague.org
La Leche League promotes the importance of breastfeeding your child. Their mission is to support breastfeeding mothers through education, information, and mother-to-mother support. There are mother-to-mother forums on many things including breast feeding at various ages, milk expression and storage, milk production, nutrition, and local news and announcements.
