Shared Custody
Divorce is difficult, especially for children. If shared custody is involved, there’s an extra layer of complexity. Coordinating schedules, transporting children to and from various destinations, deciding how to handle special occasions, choosing child care. Whew. The good news is that every year, millions of parents successfully share custody of their children, and you can too.
Resources
Child Custody Schedules by Age (Divorce.com)
Co-Parenting Series: Developmentally Appropriate Parenting Plans (Oklahoma State University)
Welcome New Baby
Great news! You’re having a baby! This is exciting but for an older sibling it might be hard and a little scary. We have some strategies to help your child transition to becoming a big brother or sister.
Resources
How to Prepare Older Children for a New Baby (American Academy of Pediatrics)
Helping Your Toddler Adust to a New Baby (What to Expect)
Child Care for Working Families
The Child Care for Working Families Act would expand child care access to nearly all children under age six. It would also increase wages for child care professionals across the country. Imagine a world where all parents can go to work knowing their young child is safe and learning from a teacher who is confident that she’ll be able to keep her doors open!
Resources
Child Care for Working Families Act (117th U.S. Congress)
5 Things to Know About the Child Care for Working Families Act (Center for American Progress)
Month of the Young Child #4
This is the last in our series for the Month of the Young Child. But here at the First 5 Years, we celebrate little kids every month of the year! It seemed like a great way to finish our series by talking about what parents should look for when searching for child care.
Resources
Month of the Young Child #1
Maryland Family Network along with several other organizations have declared April 10 through May 5 as the Month of the Young Child. There will be a fun-filled month of celebrating early learning, young children, their teachers, families, and our communities.
Resources
Month of the Young Child (Arts for Learning)
Happy Mother's Day?
Mother’s Day is this week. A lot of you guys are probably going to send the mom in your life a card. You may even include some flowers. The big spenders might even take her out to lunch. Cool. But what if you did something else? Something a lot more meaningful.
Resources
Month of the Young Child #3
As we continue to recognize the Month of the Young Child, it’s important that we talk about an alarming trend in Baltimore City and County. Since December of last year there has been a sudden spike in infant deaths.
Resources
Safe Sleep (B'More for Healthy Babies)
Rise in Infant Deaths Hits Black Families the Hardest, Study Finds (Baltimore Sun)
Month of the Young Child 2
If you have been listening to the First Five Years on WEAA over the past several months, you have hopefully learned a lot about young children, parenting, and advocating for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. Hopefully, you have even asked yourself, how can I get more engaged and build a better future for Maryland’s children? Well this is the Month of the Young Child and a perfect time to get more involved.
Resources
Become and Advocate (MFN)
AI Dentist
What if moms-to-be got their next dental checkup at their obstetrician’s office? That’s exactly what researchers at the University of Rochester are suggesting.
Resources
Combining Pregnancy and Dental Check Ups (University of Rochester)
Tele-dentistry in Inner City Child Care Centers (Sage Journals)
Baby Is Watching
Don’t you love it when a baby is watching you? They stare up at your face with an intensity that adults seldom offer each other. When they do that, those babies are taking everything in. They learn by looking at human faces. But during the pandemic we all wore masks all the time. Is that going to lead to a generation who didn’t have a chance to benefit from our faces?