Love those teeth

Children’s dental hygiene and habits are important starting before the first tooth appears. 

Why do baby teeth matter when we will eventually loose these teeth anyway?  These teeth help with chewing, speaking and smiling and because the practices that are started at this age set the stage for how healthy a child’s mouth will be as they grow. Tooth decay can start as soon as the first tooth erupts, anytime between 4-12 months old.

Keep these strategies in mind when helping children keep their teeth healthy.

1. Wipe baby’s gums clean with a moist washcloth everyday
2. Keep germs to yourself, do not spread cavity causing germs from your mouth to your baby’s mouth
3. Begin brushing teeth twice a day as soon as the first tooth erupts
4. Brush with fluoride toothpaste, a smear the size of a grain of rice, or a pea sized amount for children 3 and up
5. Limit sugar sweetened beverages to meal times or not at all
6. Offer water with fluoride to drink between meals and before bed
7. Encourage children to eat fruits, vegetables and foods low in sugar.  Limit sugary, sticky snacks.
8. Have an adult help children with tooth brushing until they are age 6, or when the child is old enough to tie their own shoes
9. Bring children to the dentist by the age of one – children should have their teeth looked at and fluoride varnish applied at least twice a year

We need your help to make sure every kid counts in the 2020 Census!

Making sure every kid counts in the 2020 Census is one of the most important things we can do for our kids and our communities. People working with young children have a vital role to play.

The census is supposed to count every person living in the United States, but it often fails to count young children. Young kids under 5 are the age group most likely to be missed by the census. The 2010 Census undercounted young children in the United States by one million kids.

When kids aren’t counted in the census, it hurts our communities and reduces funding for important programs that help our kids and families. Colorado’s 2020 Census data will be used to allocate billions of dollars in federal funding for programs like child care assistance, Head Start, foster care and WIC. In one year alone, Colorado received $2 billion in federal funding for kids’ programs based on our census population counts. If young kids aren’t counted in 2020, our communities won’t receive their fair share of this funding for the next decade.

Families will be able to respond to the 2020 Census beginning in March 2020. Child care providers and others working with young children are trusted messengers that can help them understand how important census participation is.

Check out, and share, this 1 minute video from the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO) which explains how the census is used and why it matters to communities: How the U.S. Census works or copy and paste this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2SqG9Kk9AA

Coaching Corner

How do you talk about culture with your parents?
 
“Through culture, children gain a sense of who they are, a feeling of belonging, what is important, what is right and wrong, how to care for themselves and others, and what to celebrate, eat, and wear.”
 
-Infant/Toddler Caregiving: A Guide to Culturally Sensitive Care
 

Culture is made up of factors in one’s environment that are accepted by the group as the norm. Culture includes attitudes, values, laws, cherished beliefs, and ways of doing things. The foundation for many cultures’ rests upon accepted myths or beliefs.
 
Ethnicity, religion, socio-economic status, and sexual orientation are a few of the parts of humanity that permeate our beings and create the lens through which we experience life. These broad categories affect the ideas we have, the way we speak and how we act. Culture is passed to us from many different places in our lives; through the environment we are raised in, from parents to children and from caregivers to children to name a few. One of our jobs as caregivers is to be aware of our own culture and how it influences our interactions with the children we care for. The same kind of awareness of our own culture should be used during our interactions with parents. There is a delicate balance of give and take in being open, asking questions, and providing information when we are building relationships with a child and their family.
 
How do you have conversations that cross-cultural boundaries?  In order to have difficult conversations with one another, we first must reflect on our own culture and values.   
Here is a short survey that is adapted from the Expanding Quality in Infant and Toddler Care initiative to help think about your personal values.
 
Personal Competencies Checklist
1= I need much more training and support in this area
2= I need a little more training and support in this area
3= I am good in this area
4= I am very good in this area