Offers caregivers several suggestions for easing late afternoon stress and crankiness of infants and toddlers. These include carbohydrate-rich snacks; change of environment; activities that focus on touch; parachute activities; gross motor activities; looking at photographs of family members; lengthening outdoor time in the afternoon; and…

Studied the conceptualization of the role of the recreation teacher (instructor in leisure time centers in schools) during team planning sessions in two Swedish schools. Recreation instructors were generally viewed as teachers' assistants, a finding that suggests that recreation instructors who want to develop an occupational identity as the…

Suggests ways child care directors can support staff in their professional and personal development and still maintain a solvent operation. Suggestions include conducting an all-agency training audit, creating a training accountability chain within the agency, providing information about and expectations for training and its outcomes, and…

Two camp directors were interviewed about evacuations from their camps due to forest fires. Topics covered include descriptions of the events; actions taken; aspects of advance planning that proved helpful; unexpected portions of the experience and resultant changes made in plans; relations with outside agencies, the media, and parents; working…

In two interviews Janet Reno, former U.S. Attorney General, discusses the biggest challenges facing children and youth and how government, families, and communities can come together to meet these challenges. The first interview was conducted by Mary Shahbazian; the second was conducted by Father Chris Riley. (Author)

This qualitative study provides insights into the meanings and experiences of time for 15 married fathers with at least one child in day care. The findings show that work continues to dominate, that within the family children wield considerable control over a father's time, and that fathers want to move closer to a model of shared parenting. (DLH)

Notes that infant curriculums involve every aspect of child development and should be appropriate for the individual child. Highlights characteristics of ideal curriculums, and provides guidelines for assessment of child and curriculum, and of communication regarding curriculum. (LBT)

Offers hearing parents of deaf infants guidelines on communicating with their child based on changes that deaf mothers make in their signing when talking to their deaf baby. Guidelines focus on restricting language, sign repetition, dramatic expression, waiting for the child's attention, tapping to gain attention, and visual leading. (DB)

Maintains that the United States tolerates an ineffective system of early education and professional preparation. Notes challenges to the field, including insufficient teacher preparation, outdated teacher professional development approaches, ineffective use of research findings to improve early childhood programs, and failure to understand,…

Discusses the role of the Child Life Specialist in helping to meet the special needs of medically fragile children. Argues that since many child care professionals may come into contact with medically fragile children at some point in their careers, it is important to examine child life as a specialization in the health care profession. (SD)

Purpose: Although driving by persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an important public health concern, we know little about the attitudes and perceptions of key stakeholders regarding driving safety in these individuals or the factors that precipitate and influence driving assessment and cessation decisions. Design and Methods: We convened 10…

Due to changes in the academic market, faculty job satisfaction is especially critical. Using a multi-step framework, this study explores the role of family and stress related "pull factors" on a measure of overall job satisfaction for a large nationally representative sample of college and university faculty members. These "pull factors" include,…

Faculty members rarely take advantage of family-friendly workplace policies. What are they so afraid of? Few eligible faculty members take formal leaves for childbearing or caregiving. The Faculty and Families Project at the author's university, for example, found that between 1992 and 1999, only four of 257 tenure-track faculty parents at…

Data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care, a prospective, longitudinal study involving 933 children, were used to examine relations between cumulative participation in 5 types of out-of-school care (before- and after-school programs, extracurricular activities, sitters, fathers, and…

This study examined relations between therapist, caregiver, and youth characteristics and therapist adherence to multisystemic therapy (MST). Participants were 405 therapists in 45 organizations and the 1,711 families they treated with MST. Therapist perceptions that the flexible hours required to implement MST are problematic predicted lower…