Meducat

A Map Showing Faith Across the World . Click to enlarge.

Yes. The government classifies preschools as daycare centers rather than educational institutions, so they have to meet the same licensing requirements that daycare centers do.

A license isn’t necessarily a guarantee of quality. It merely shows that the facility has met the minimum health, safety, and teacher training standards set by the state. In some states, having a license means only that a preschool has registered as a business; in others, it means a preschool has passed a stringent test. In any case, ask to see the preschool’s license when you visit to make sure it’s at least up to date, and check here to see what it takes to get one in your state - http://nrc.uchsc.edu/states.html. You can also check a preschool’s license by calling your state or county social services department (look in the phone book).

What does it mean if a preschool is “accredited”?
Accreditation may be a more telling sign that you’ve found a good preschool. Look for one that has passed the tough accreditation process formulated by the National Association for the Education of young Children (NAEYC), a benchmark of quality. So far, NAEYC has accredited only a fraction (approximately 6,000) of this country’s more than 96,000 licensed preschools and daycare centers. About 12,000 more have ordered materials from NAEYC that outline what a center must have to be accredited. Keep in mind that the accreditation process can take up to 18 months and cost more than $400, which is one reason why so few centers have yet to seek that stamp of approval. What’s more, preschools must update their accreditation every three years, and this can be time consuming for a small school with limited personnel.

To search NAEYC’s database and find out whether your preschool has made the cut - http://www.naeyc.org/accreditation/center_search.asp

[via Parent Center]

Most preschool fees are comparable to the high prices charged by daycare centers, though few preschools will cost as much as full-day care for an infant. Depending on where you live and the quality of the preschool, costs range from $4,000 to $10,000 per year ($333 to $833 monthly), according to the Child Care Information Exchange. The cost will also depend, of course, on how much time your child spends at preschool; a full-day, five-day-a-week program will be much more expensive than a part-time arrangement.  

Most preschools operate on an installment plan, and the more quickly you pay the tuition in full — in two installments, say, rather than monthly — the cheaper it will be for you. Many schools charge interest if the tuition payments are spread out over a period of months.

Parent-run cooperative preschools generally cost less but require more of your time. Fran Brook, a mother of three in Novato, Calif., chose a co-op when she sent her third child to Novato Parents’ Nursery School. “I spent one day there every other week leading the kids in activities the director had planned,” she says. “We also had one evening meeting a month and one or two work Saturdays a year.”

Brook still had to pay something, but she estimates it was half what a regular school would have cost. What’s more, it was a great way to become part of the community. “I was new in town,” she says. “Through my son’s preschool I got to meet other parents with similar interests.”

[via Parent Center]

Very young children will only recently have mastered the skills of walking and talking, and they may not be able to express their anxieties and fears. Although you may think they are too young to understand what is happening, even very young children can absorb frightening events from the news or from conversations they overhear.

Watch your children for signs of fear and anxiety they may not be able to put into words. Have your children become extra clingy, needing more hugs and kisses than usual? Have your children started wetting the bed or sucking their thumb after you thought they had outgrown that behavior? They may be feeling the pressure of what is going on in the world around them. Use play to help your children express their fears and encourage them to use art or pretend games to express what they may not be able to put into words.

Use your family like a security blanket for your children: wrap them up in family closeness and make sure your children have lots of family time. During times of stress and change, spend more time with your children playing games, reading to them, or just holding them close.

Young children especially crave routine and rituals. If bedtime is the time you read stories to your children, make sure you keep that time for stories. Your child may be less able to handle change when he or she is going through a particularly rough time.

[via APA]

For every 100 girls that are conceived 115 boys are conceived.
http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-3840.html

For every 100 girl babies born there are 105 boy babies born.
http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/06statab/vitstat.pdf

K-12 Education

For every 100 girls enrolled in nursery school there are 112 boys enrolled.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school/cps2004.html

For every 100 girls enrolled in kindergarten there are 116 boys enrolled.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school/cps2004.html

For every 100 girls enrolled in elementary grades there are 107 boys enrolled.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school/cps2004.html

For every 100 girls enrolled in ninth grade there are 101 boys enrolled.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school/cps2004.html

For every 100 girls enrolled in tenth grade there are 94 boys enrolled.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school/cps2004.html

For every 100 girls enrolled in eleventh grade there are 109 boys enrolled.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school/cps2004.html

For every 100 girls enrolled in twelfth grade there are 98 boys enrolled.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school/cps2004.html

For every 100 girls enrolled in high school there are 100 boys enrolled.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school/cps2004.html

For every 100 girls enrolled in gifted and talented programs in public elementary and secondary schools there are 94 boys enrolled.
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d04/tables/dt04_055.asp

For every 100 girls who graduate from high school 96 boys graduate
(NCES, unpublished tabulation.)

For every 100 girls suspended from public elementary and secondary schools 250 boys are suspended.
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d04/tables/dt04_144.asp

For every 100 girls expelled from public elementary and secondary schools 335 boys are expelled.
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d04/tables/dt04_144.asp

Special Education

For every 100 girls diagnosed with a special education disability 217 boys are diagnosed with a special education disability.
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm

For every 100 girls diagnosed with a learning disability 276 boys are diagnosed with a learning disability.
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm

For every 100 girls diagnosed with emotional disturbance 324 boys are diagnosed with emotional disturbance
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm

For every 100 girls diagnosed with a speech impairment 147 boys are similarly diagnosed.
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm

For every 100 girls diagnosed with mental retardation 138 boys are diagnosed as mentally retarded.
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm

For every 100 girls diagnosed with visual impairment 125 boys are visually impaired.
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm

For every 100 girls diagnosed with hearing impairment 108 boys are diagnosed as hearing impaired.
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm

For every 100 girls diagnosed with deafness 120 boys have deafness.
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm

For every 100 girls with orthopedic impairment 118 boys have orthopedic impairment.
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm

For every 100 girls with other health impairment 127 boys have other health impairment.
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm

For every 100 girls with multiple disabilities 189 boys have multiple disabilities.
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm

For every 100 girls that are deaf/blind 98 boys are deaf/blind.
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm

Higher Education

For every 100 women enrolled in college there are 77 men enrolled.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school/cps2004.html

For every 100 women enrolled in the first year of college there are 79 men enrolled.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school/cps2004.html

For every 100 women enrolled in the second year of college there are 71 men enrolled.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school/cps2004.html

For every 100 women enrolled in the third year of college there are 75 men enrolled.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school/cps2004.html

For every 100 women enrolled in the fourth year of college there are 94 men enrolled.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school/cps2004.html

For every 100 women enrolled in the fifth year of college there are 65 men enrolled.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school/cps2004.html

For every 100 women enrolled in the sixth year or more of college there are 78 men enrolled.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school/cps2004.html

For every 100 women living in college dormitories there are 87 men living in college dorms.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/phc-t26.html

For every 100 American women who earn an associateís degree from college 67 American men earn the same degree.
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d04/tables/dt04_262.asp

For every 100 American women who earn a bachelorís degree from college 73 American men earn a bachelorís degree.
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d04/tables/dt04_262.asp

For every 100 American women who earn a masterís degree from college 62 American men earn the same degree.
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d04/tables/dt04_265.asp

For every 100 American women who earn a first-professional degree 107 American men earn a first-professional degree.
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d04/tables/dt04_271.asp

For every 100 American women who earn a doctor’s degree from college 92 American men earn the same degree.
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d04/tables/dt04_268.asp

Other Indicators

For every 100 females ages 15 to 19 that commit suicide 549 males in the same range kill themselves.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/dvs/LCWK1_2002.pdf

For every 100 females ages 20 to 24 that commit suicide 624 males of the same age kill themselves.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/dvs/LCWK1_2002.pdf

For every 100 girls ages 15 to 17 in correctional facilities there are 837 boys behind bars.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/phc-t26.html

For every 100 women ages 18 to 21 in correctional facilities there are 1430 men behind bars.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/phc-t26.html

For every 100 women ages 22 to 24 in correctional facilities there are 1448 men in correctional facilities.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/phc-t26.html

For every 100 women living in military quarters there are 642 men living in military quarters.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/phc-t26.html

For every 100 women ages 18 to 24 years living in emergency and transitional shelters there are 86 men living in similar shelters.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/phc-t26.html

For every 100 women ages 18 to 24 years living in-group homes there are 166 men of the same age living in-group homes.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/phc-t26.html

Along with mothers, social scientists have also long debated whether being raised by a stay-at-home parent is better for a child’s social, emotional and intellectual development. 

The latest research shows mixed results. According to an ongoing study by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Md., which has tracked more than 1,300 children in 10 cities since 1991, preschoolers who attend day care for a year or more have an increased chance of discipline problems through the sixth grade, regardless of sex, family income or the quality of the day care center. On average, the more time that a child spends in day care (especially as an infant or toddler), the more problems arise.

But the study, published in the March-April issue of Child Development, also found that high-quality day care attendance is linked to children’s higher vocabulary scores through elementary school.

The takeaway message is that both the quantity and quality of child care do matter,” says Sharon Ramey, director of the Georgetown University Center on Health and Education in Washington, D.C. As a result, Ramey recommends that working parents should try to arrange their schedules creatively so that a child doesn’t have to be in nonparental care for excessively long periods of time — say, more than 30 to 40 hours a week.

In addition, Ramey says that research is just starting to show that not only is it important to find high-quality child care, but it’s also important to find the type of care that works best for your son or daughter and that takes his or her personality and individual needs into account.

In other words, a place that works for one youngster may or may not be the right place for another youngster. Thus, working parents need to be on the lookout for any signs of stress or distress in a child who attends day care — such as unusual crying or hitting incidents — and deal with them proactively.

Still, despite the somewhat troubling research findings regarding day care and discipline problems, Ramey notes that this new study “also affirms, again, that home environment has the largest and most lasting effect on a child.” This includes the overall quality of parenting — which is a stronger and much more significant predictor of developmental outcomes than any early child care experience.  

[via Revolution Health Group]

The first ever multi-media support package for parents and carers of children with autism in Northern Ireland has been launched with the aim of ” answering all the questions that need answered”.

Peat (Parents Education As Autism Therapists) this morning launched Simple Steps, a CD-Rom training and support package.

The initiative will provide training and guidance to parents who have a child with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and has been designed and produced by parents and professionals to provide information about Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA). Around 10,000 children in Northern Ireland suffer from ASD and the figure is rising. Autism, which has a detrimental affect on a child’s social interaction, communication and play skills, can also lead to challenging and inappropriate behaviour. Simple Steps aims to give parents the skills to deal with challenging behaviour, such as tantrums, and to teach their children new skills. ABA also empowers children with skills to make choices for themselves, giving them more independence and a better quality of life.

The package was funded with a grant of £236,529 from the Big Lottery Fund’s Voluntary and Community Sector Programme.

Dr Tony Byrne, Peat chairman, has two children with autism. He said that parents have “initial feelings of devastation and disbelief when their children are diagnosed with Autism”.

“We then embark on a lonely search for help. Most of us rang every charity we could find, spoke to countless professionals, read books on autism and searched many websites,” he said.

“Wouldn’t it have been great if someone had given you a complete comprehensive support package that answered the questions you needed answered.”

Peat, a parent-led charity, worked along with Dr Stephen Gallagher and Dr Mickey Keenan from the University of Ulster’s school of psychology in Coleraine, Dr Karola Dillenburger from Queen’s University Belfast and a local company, Manley’s Ltd., to produce Simple Steps. Crossroads Primary School and Stars pre-school in Kilrea also played key roles in the project.

Dr Mickey Keenan said the launch was “another step closer to addressing the acute shortage of skills in a science of behaviour for guiding parents of children with autism”.

For further information, contact Peat on 028 9032 4882 or log on to their website at www.peatni.org

[via Belfast Telegraph]

When Karen Storek was expecting her first child, she searched hungrily for any morsel of parenting information.

“I spent an enormous amount of time reading every book I could find, preparing myself for becoming a new mom,'’ the Tucson woman said of her pregnancy 21 years ago. “But I found the information to be very hit and miss.'’

She spent hours at the library and bookstores, poring over parenting manuals. She was frustrated that there was not one reliable, free source for information. When son Sean was an infant, she spotted a brochure on poisonous plants at her pediatrician’s office. Storek realized that, especially for new parents, information could mean the difference between life and death.
“I decided to create a nonprofit organization that would gather all this information in the same place,'’ she said.

Storek created New Parents Network in 1988, with the goal of providing lifesaving information to parents at no charge. She runs the organization from her Tucson home. Information - frequently focusing on product recalls, poisonous plants, child-care resources, nutrition, immunization schedules and abuse prevention - was distributed through packets given to parents by Tucson hospitals.

In 1994, software was created for interactive kiosks that were placed in the waiting rooms at Tucson clinics that serve low-income families. In 2000, New Parents Network launched a multilingual Web site, which receives about 250,000 visits from around the world each month.
“It used to be that mothers talked over the fence and got information from each other, but that doesn’t happen in this scattered world,'’ Storek said.

Today, Storek - mother of Sean, 21, and Tyler, 17 - e-mails free weekly tips. Here’s a recent one - most pregnant women know to avoid herbal remedies. “But even drinking peppermint tea can put a woman at risk for inducing labor,'’ she said.

The information is so critical University Medical Center provides tips from the network and information about the Web site to all moms who deliver there, said Adaline Klemmedson, vice president for administration and corporate relations at UMC. The hospital is one of the program’s major sponsors.

“New moms, and especially younger moms, can be very overwhelmed, and they don’t always know what to do,'’ Klemmedson said. “Karen has a wealth of information for new parents.'’
Tucson pediatrician Dr. John Bean frequently refers families to the Web site, calling it “a place where any parent can go to find a wealth of information regarding parenting children.'’
He said information is key in successful parenting. “The more properly informed the parent is, the better equipped they are to respond to the needs of their children.'’

New Parent Network is supported by businesses, foundations and private donations. Storek is the only paid employee. She hopes to add paid staff, expanding her reach.
Her best advice for new parents? “Don’t be afraid. Becoming a parent can be a very fearful thing. But there is so much information out there.'’ It’s all part of her mission to support families.
“Imagine the change that could take place with this generation being loved and supported,'’ she said.

[via Tuscon Citizen]

A campus chapter president renounced his membership.
“Stomping the yard” with desired colors and Greek letters.
Leading the university in community service projects.
Throwing the biggest parties of the year.
Lending a helping hand to fellow members.

Greek-lettered organizations. Their purpose and function can become blurred not only in the eyes of the university, but with its members.

Is Greek life compatible with Christianity?

Recently, a debate over Greek-lettered organizations and their relationship to Christianity has emerged — a debate that goes back at least to the mid-1980s.

The campus of Prairie View A & M University in Prairie View, Texas, experienced this debate firsthand and with full effect: The president of the campus chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., stepped down and denounced his membership in the organization.

The events began with an opinion piece in the student newspaper, the Panther, “Why God wants you to denounce your letters.”

A student anonymously urged others to denounce their Greek letters or steer clear of Greek-lettered organizations.

He said fraternities and sororities were “idols to themselves and to people who long to be a member of them.” He said these organizations take the place of God in some people’s hearts because they spend time “worshiping” the organizations and not God.

The student said, “demons used the founders of secret societies and Greek/Egyptian organizations to create a stronghold for young people for years to come.” He claimed these demons purposely work against the will of God.

“Organizations encourage members as well as potential members to dedicate all their time and efforts to their success,” he said, which conflicts with God’s will.

The debate lasted until the semester’s end. In response to “Why God wants you to denounce your letters,” the Panther published, “Why God is ONE with my letters.”

The author of that piece, B.J. O’Neal, summarized the opposing arguments as “a common mishap that occurs when religious people err in their understandings or over-interpret human action as it relates to historical events documented in the Bible.” He argued that people should realize that “the true intentions of Greek organizations are in fact aligned with what God would have his people doing.”

O’Neal supported his statements by citing personal experiences and Bible verses.

Fuel was added to the fire when the president of the Eta Gamma Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Asad Abdul-Salaam, stepped down and denounced his fraternity membership. Abdul-Salaam wrote, “Why I denounced my letters.”

Abdul-Salaam condemned Greek images and symbols, and called the rituals “anti-Christian.”

“Asad was a great president,” said Mark Anthony Williams II, the new president of the Eta Gamma Chapter. “He was somebody that I truly looked up to and still do. It takes bravery to work hard and to get somewhere but also to step down due to religious reasons. I don’t know a lot of people that would do that.”

“We, as Alphas, don’t look at him differently. We don’t talk about him behind his back. I still love Asad to death,” Williams said. “If he believes his walk with God will be greater, it’s not for us to judge. Asad is not a sporadic guy; it was something well thought out.”

However, Williams said, “I personally know a lot of people that are extremely involved in church — preachers, deacons, mothers — and it’s all about how you personally portray your letters,” he said. “Your organization may be flawed, but you can try to help it become better and [get] back to its original intent.”

Williams said it would be better to have written about how Greek life has digressed from its original path.

The Rev. Kenneth I. Clarke Sr., a member of Alpha Phi Alpha and director of Cornell United Religious Work at Cornell University, traces the current debate to such ministers as Frederic Hatchett and Gail Gray, who condemn Greek-lettered organizations.

Hatchett is the founder of the Web site www.dontgogreek.com and author of “Coming Apart at the Seams: Biblically Unravelling the Evils of Sororities and Fraternities.” On his Web site, he claims to have 21 years of “experience” with Greek-lettered organizations, “six years as an outsider looking in, five as an insider, 10 and counting as a born again, denounced member.”

Hatchett says the origin of these organizations can be found in the “Ancient Cults of Babylon,” which can be proved in “SEVEN undeniable similarities between Ancient Babylonian Cults and Greek Organizations today.”

Gray is the author of “Greek-Letter Organizations: Offspring of Abomination.” Her mission is to teach about “the spiritual conflict surrounding Christian membership within secret societies,” according to her Web site, www.gailgray.com.

Clarke says of these critics, “They take text [from the Bible] that supports their case with a snip of a ritual and say it’s evidence. You can’t take a quote out of an initiation without putting it into context,” Clarke said.

Clarke said he finds this difficult to do if you have not been a part of a Greek-letter organization because, he said, members understand the symbolism behind the rituals.

“For example, I shouldn’t know what a Kappa ritual means as an Alpha any more than a Kappa should know about Alpha’s rituals,” he said.

He also said, “some of the language of the rituals are used symbolically and not to be taken literally.”

He maintains that some rituals have been handed down throughout history and have historical hreferences or hreferences to African culture.

“I have never had to make a decision between Alpha Phi Alpha and my faith,” Clarke said. “No one is asked to serve something else other than God, just have a commitment to your organization.”

Clarke said he is concerned that this debate will affect younger members who do not have tight grasp on their organization’s history or black history.

Thus, Clarke says it is essential for older members and graduate members to converse with the younger ones and help them to have a better grasp of their organization’s past and of the purposes on which they were founded.

“These arguments are problematic,” he said. “Christianity, as well as other religions, are most potent, most transformative when they clarify what they stand for as opposed to misguided interpretations of faith that speak about what they are against.”

[via The Black College Wire]

massive toy recall could have millions of parents taking their children’s favourite toys away.

The makers of Thomas and Friends wooden railway toys is recalling about one and a-half million of them.

RC2 Corporation, which imports and distributes the toy, issued the recall because paint on the toys contains lead and could be toxic if ingested by young children. There have been no injuries reported.

The recall covers wooden vehicles, buildings and other parts sole from January 2005 through this month.

Details: by phone at 866-725-4407;

Details: by Web at http://recalls.rc2.com and http://www.cpsc.gov.

[via KTLA]