Before a child even steps into a classroom or child care center, their first lessons in life occur within the walls of their home. During their formative years, from birth to age five, children undergo significant cognitive, motor, and behavioral development. As their primary guides and first teachers, parents and guardians play a pivotal role in fostering these crucial aspects of growth.
Delving into each domain of development, let’s explore effective strategies and activities that parents can integrate into their daily routines to support their child’s holistic growth.
Cognitive development lays the groundwork for a child’s ability to learn, think, reason, and solve problems. Engaging children in stimulating activities encourages curiosity and develops a strong foundation for future academic and communicative success. Here are some ways to foster positive cognitive development:
Reading Together: One of the most powerful tools for cognitive development is reading. It introduces children to language, expands their vocabulary, and sparks imagination. Make reading a daily ritual by choosing age-appropriate books that capture their interest.
Some classic children’s book options include:
In celebration and education of Arab American Heritage Month, you can also read these books by Arab American authors:
Play Together: Play is a child’s entry to the physical, social, and affective worlds. It is a critical and necessary tool in the positive cognitive development of young children and directly linked to long-term academic success. Here are ways you can play together at home:
Encourage Questions: As children find their voice, they also find their curiosity for the world around them. Foster that curious mindset by encouraging your child to ask questions. Answer their inquiries patiently, and if you don’t know the answer, explore together through books or online resources.
It’s time to get moving! Motor development involves the refinement of both gross and fine motor skills, which are essential for physical coordination and independence. In these formative years, your little one will learn to walk, learn how to grab and hold items, begin building their muscle strength, and more. Here are some ways to facilitate positive motor development at home:
Tummy Time: Starting from infancy, incorporate daily tummy time sessions to strengthen neck and upper body muscles, promoting eventual crawling and walking. You can elevate the tummy time experience by:
Outdoor Play: Provide opportunities for outdoor play, whether it’s at a park, playground, or in your backyard. Activities such as running, jumping, climbing, and swinging enhance gross motor skills while allowing children to connect with nature. Also try gardening together! Not only does gardening promote motor skill development, but it offers many other benefits for young children including stress management, cognitive and emotional development, sensory development, and increased interests in math, sciences, and healthy eating. Follow the Council on our social platforms @cdacouncil for our segment, Council Sprouts, where we provide tips and ideas for gardening with your little one.
Fine Motor Activities: Fine motor skills relate to movement of the hands and upper body, as well as vision. Activities that encourage hand-eye coordination and fine motor skill development include:
Behavioral development encompasses the social and emotional aspects of a child’s growth, including self-regulation, empathy, and interpersonal skills.
Social and emotional development begins in the first few weeks of a child’s life. Young infants begin to build a sense of self-confidence and security in an environment where they can trust that an adult will lovingly care for their needs. As they age and become toddlers and preschoolers, they begin to establish their sense of self, explore feelings of independence, and experience conflicting feelings and ideas for the first time, all while learning how to socialize, communicate, and interact with others. Here are ways you can support your child’s behavioral development as they navigate their exploration of self and interpersonal interactive development:
Model Positive Behavior: Children learn by example, so model positive behaviors and attitudes in your interactions with others. Show empathy, kindness, and patience to the people you encounter, and emphasize acceptance of others. Seeing your behaviors in action will provide a beneficial blueprint for healthy social interactions.
Emotion Recognition: Young children are experiencing so many things for the first time. It can be both exciting and scary, resulting in big feelings and reactions from your little ones. Help your child identify and express their emotions by labeling feelings and discussing appropriate ways to manage them. Some ways to explore emotions in a safe and supportive environment include:
Play Dates and Socialization: Arrange play dates or attend parent-child classes to provide opportunities for social interaction and collaboration with peers. Through play, communication, and time with others, young children can learn how to share, take turns, and resolve conflicts peacefully.
In nurturing a child’s development from home, parents and families lay a strong foundation for future learning and success. Through each triumph and challenge, embrace the journey with patience, love, and a commitment to fostering your child’s holistic development. As their first teacher, you’re empowering the next generation to thrive throughout their childhood and into adulthood.
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Vice President of Strategic Alliances
Elisa Shepherd is the Vice President of Strategic Alliances at the Council, where she leads initiatives to advance the Council’s mission and strategic plan through designing, managing, and executing a comprehensive stakeholder relationship strategy.
With over 25 years of experience in early childhood education (ECE), Elisa has dedicated her career to developing impactful programs, professional development opportunities, and public policies that support working families, young children, and ECE staff. Before joining the Council, Elisa held numerous roles within the childcare industry. Most recently, she served as Associate Vice President at The Learning Experience and as Senior Manager at KinderCare Education, where she influenced government affairs and public policies across 40 states.
Elisa’s commitment to leadership is reflected in her external roles on the Early Care and Education Consortium Board of Directors, the Florida Chamber Foundation Board of Trustees, and as the DEI Caucus Leader for KinderCare Education. She has been recognized as an Emerging Leader in Early Childhood by Childcare Exchange’s Leadership Initiative.
Elisa earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a focus on child development from Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA.
Chief Operations Officer (COO)
Andrew Davis serves as Chief Operating Officer at the Council. In this role, Andrew oversees the Programs Division, which includes the following operational functions: credentialing, growth and business development, marketing and communications, public policy and advocacy, research, innovation, and customer relations.
Andrew has over 20 years of experience in the early care and education field. Most recently, Andrew served as Senior Vice President of Partnership and Engagement with Acelero Learning and Shine Early Learning, where he led the expansion of state and community-based partnerships to produce more equitable systems of service delivery, improved programmatic quality, and greater outcomes for communities, children and families. Prior to that, he served as Director of Early Learning at Follett School Solutions.
Andrew earned his MBA from the University of Baltimore and Towson University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland – University College.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Jan Bigelow serves as Chief Financial Officer at the Council and has been with the organization since February of 2022.
Jan has more than 30 years in accounting and finance experience, including public accounting, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. She has held management-level positions with BDO Seidman, Kiplinger Washington Editors, Pew Center for Global Climate Change, Communities In Schools, B’nai B’rith Youth Organization and American Humane. Since 2003, Jan has worked exclusively in the non-profit sector where she has been a passionate advocate in improving business operations in order to further the mission of her employers.
Jan holds a CPA from the State of Virginia and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lycoming College. She resides in Alexandria VA with her husband and dog.
Vice President of People and Culture
Janie Payne is the Vice President of People and Culture for the Council for Professional Recognition. Janie is responsible for envisioning, developing, and executing initiatives that strategically manage talent and culture to align people strategies with the overarching business vision of the Council. Janie is responsible for driving organizational excellence through strategic talent practices, orchestrating workforce planning, talent acquisition, performance management as well as a myriad of other Human Resources Programs. She is accountable for driving effectiveness by shaping organizational structure for optimal efficiency. Janie oversees strategies that foster a healthy culture to include embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion into all aspects of the organization.
In Janie’s prior role, she was the Vice President of Administration at Equal Justice Works, where she was responsible for leading human resources, financial operations, facilities management, and information technology. She was also accountable for developing and implementing Equal Justice Works Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy focused on attracting diverse, mission-oriented talent and creating an inclusive and equitable workplace environment. With more than fifteen years of private, federal, and not-for-profit experience, Janie is known for her intuitive skill in administration management, human resources management, designing and leading complex system change, diversity and inclusion, and social justice reform efforts.
Before joining Equal Justice Works, Janie was the Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer for Global Communities, where she was responsible for the design, implementation, and management of integrated HR and diversity strategies. Her work impacted employees in over twenty-two countries. She was responsible for the effective management of different cultural, legal, regulatory, and economic systems for both domestic and international employees. Prior to Global Communities, Janie enjoyed a ten-year career with the federal government. As a member of the Senior Executive Service, she held key strategic human resources positions with multiple cabinet-level agencies and served as an advisor and senior coach to leaders across the federal sector. In these roles, she received recognition from management, industry publications, peers, and staff for driving the creation and execution of programs that created an engaged and productive workforce.
Janie began her career with Verizon Communications (formerly Bell Atlantic), where she held numerous roles of increasing responsibility, where she directed a diversity program that resulted in significant improvement in diversity profile measures. Janie was also a faculty member for the company’s Black Managers Workshop, a training program designed to provide managers of color with the skills needed to overcome barriers to their success that were encountered because of race. She initiated a company-wide effort to establish team-based systems and structures to impact corporate bottom line results which was recognized by the Department of Labor. Janie was one of the first African American women to be featured on the cover of Human Resources Executive magazine.
Janie received her M.A. in Organization Development from American University. She holds numerous professional development certificates in Human Capital Management and Change Management, including a Diversity and Inclusion in Human Resources certificate from Cornell University. She completed the year-long Maryland Equity and Inclusion Leadership Program sponsored by The Schaefer Center for Public Policy and The Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. She is a trained mediator and Certified Professional Coach. She is a graduate of Leadership America, former board chair of the NTL Institute and currently co-steward of the organization’s social justice community of practice, and a member of The Society for Human Resource Management. Additionally, Janie is the Board Chairperson for the Special Education Citizens Advisory Council for Prince Georges County where she is active in developing partnerships that facilitate discussion between parents, families, educators, community leaders, and the PG County school administration to enhance services for students with disabilities which is her passion. She and her husband Randolph reside in Fort Washington Maryland.
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