Separation Anxiety in Children

Many children eagerly enter their first classroom excited and a little nervous. According to most experts, separation anxiety is a natural event in human development. It begins at around eight months, when infants are starting to differentiate between objects in the world. At this time, a child begins to understand that objects exist even when they disappear from view. Consequently, children also begin to realize that they have parents. This recognition spawns deep concerns for children surrounding the periodic absence of these caregivers. 

Occasionally, children will even develop health problems like insomnia, dizziness, nausea, or heart palpitations. In addition, mounting evidence suggests a link between separation anxiety disorder and other later-developing disorders, most notably, panic disorder, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

What Are the Symptoms of Separation Anxiety Disorder?

1. An unrealistic and lasting worry that something bad will happen to the parent or caregiver if the child leaves 
2. Refusal to go to school in order to stay with the caregiver 
3. Refusal to go to sleep without the caregiver being nearby or to sleep away from home 
4. Fear of being alone 
5. Nightmares about being separated 
6. Bed wetting 
7. Complaints of physical symptoms, such as headaches and stomachaches, on school days 
8. Repeated temper tantrums or pleading 

How to cope up with separation anxiety ?

1. Let Them Know What Will Happen. Explain in direct language what will happen. Do this several times, if possible, and be sure to do it just before heading out or the arrival of the sitter. 
2. Emphasize the fun things he or she will do. 
3. Use positive language. Like "I will be back soon." 
4. Be Supportive and Calm. You must be supportive through this time and reiterate to them that you are always there for them. Be loving and calm and you shouldn't go far wrong. 
5. Introduce your child to the school and new teachers before the first day. 
6. Take pictures of the front of the building, the teachers’ faces and the new cubby, and show him a few times before school starts. 

For more information on this, please read http://www.webmd.com/children/guide/separation-anxiety

Find If Your Child is Stressed Out in Daycare

Your baby can communicate both signs of comfort/calm and signs of distress/discomfort. Of course each baby will give unique cues that you will be able to understand in time, but there are some basic cues to look for when figuring out what your baby is telling you. 

Daycare or preschool stress can be measured by the levels of cortisol - a stress hormone - that children produce during the day. In normal, healthy people, cortisol levels follow a daily rhythm, peaking when they wake and then falling over the course of the day. Cortisol levels are the lowest just before sleep .When children stay home, their cortisol levels show the healthy pattern.

These are some of the signs that your kids would communicate to you when they are stressed and not stressed. The following table will give you a better idea about the details.

Some of these signs of readiness	Some of these signs of distress or discomfort
Cooing	Back arching
Relaxed arms, legs, face	Arm or leg extension
Looking at objects or people	“Sitting on air”- legs out straight enough that her butt is in the air
Eyes open	Spreading out (splaying) fingers or toes
Smiling, or trying to smile	Grimacing, frowning, crying
Maintaining a flexed position (fetal position)	Yawning, hiccups, sneezing

Important think to note by parents developments after joining daycare center 

• Salute (hands blocking face)
• Improvement in memory ,social skills,work habits
• Gagging, spitting up
• Increase in cognitive development 
• Looking away (averting gaze)
• Behavioral problems and conflicting relationship

Child care providers can help babies and toddlers overcome stress by:

• (re)establishing a safe and routine-based environment. 
• Helping children establish a sense of security and trust in their adult care givers. 
• (re)introducing laughter, joy, play and exploration into their lives'. 
• Supporting and comforting children who are upset or distressed. 

Some strategies for managing stress include:

• Good Nutrition. Eating healthy foods helps your immune system work properly and combats the toll that stress can take on your body. 
• Breathing techniques. Breathing practice helps sustain vital energy and can lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Breathe in for the count of four, hold for the count of four, and exhale for the count of four. 
• Regular exercise. Regular exercise practiced at least three times per week can relax your body and mind. Try walking, swimming or Yoga. 
• Short breaks. Periodic breaks where you stretch, breathe or just get a change of scenery can revive your body and lift your spirits. 
• Calm classroom environment. Provide sensory experiences to help children diffuse the stress they may be carrying from the home environment or from being separated from their parents. When the children are calm and engaged in classroom activities, you are able to better provide the nurturing attention they need and ultimately you will feel a sense of peace 

Tracking Account Receivables in Childcare Management Software

In EZChildTrack, the web-based child care management software, you can keep track of payments due for account holders and take measures accordingly. 

This is highly convenient in those situations when customers do not make payments upfront and you will need to collect payment from them later on. You can raise invoices at a later period to customers informing them about the payment due.

Managing account receivables forms an integral part of your program’s financial management. Using EZChildTrack, it becomes easier to automate and manage such details thereby enhancing a program’s overall performance. 

Apart from providing a structured platform to maintain program data, EZChildTrack also provides a number of reporting tools in the system that can help you to easily track details of account receivables. Such reports can be generated in popular formats and saved into your computer for easy access. You can then analyse these reports and make informed decisions. Some of the reports that will be highly beneficial for a childcare program include (but not limited to) the balance aging report wherein all account holders who have not yet made payment or have made partial payments are enlisted. 

Accounts Receivables Reports can be generated on a service period basis as well. Previous balance, charges, credits and service period balance for each account holder is shown in such reports. In EZChildTrack, you can also generate reports that contain projected revenue details for different activity types/revenue categories.

The benefit of using EZChildTrack childcare management software is that you can access and print these reports at your own convenience. Being a web based system, accessibility is guaranteed 24/7 and you can print out reports any time of the day. Apart from tracking account receivables, it is also possible to generate a myriad of other reports that will help you in analysing your childcare program’s performance.

Here’s the Real Story About Childcare in Oregon

In Oregon, most parents are struggling to afford even basic childcare—let alone single parents with only one income. For the majority of single moms, the question isn’t “where can I find a great nanny?!” It’s “will I make enough at this job to pay for the childcare I need in order to take the job in the first place?” 

Women make 79 cents for every dollar paid to men in the same job. Childcare now costs as much or more as college, and budget cuts that slashed public assistance benefits mean even less of an opportunity for women to work and ensure that their children are in safe childcare. It’s as though we set out specifically to design an economic system that punishes women for being single, working mothers.

Here are some facts that we hope Mr. Youngblood uses in his story about child care in Oregon:

• The medium income for single mothers is $21,828.
• The average annual cost for infant care in a day care center is $13,452—61% of the medium income for single moms.
• The average annual cost for a 4-year-old in a day care center is $10,200—47% of the median income for single moms. 
• According to the latest Census figures, 43.7% of households led by single mothers are below the poverty line. For a mom with two kids, that’s less than $20,000 a year.
• Since the beginning of the recession, Oregon has cut assistance for struggling families and single parents. 
• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families has been cut, and the Employment Related Day Care program has also been slashed.
• While the ERDC has seen minimal amounts of money restored to the budget by the legislature, thousands of working parents are still on the waiting list. 
• According to the International Nanny Association, the median hourly rate for nannies is $16. Assuming 40 hours a week, that’s an annual salary of $33,280. 

For more information regarding this please read the article - http://thesockeye.org/2014/07/28/katu-heres-the-real-story-about-childcare-in-oregon/

Benefits of Having a Parent Portal in a Preschool Management Software

What’s the significance of having a robust parent portal for a child care management software like EZChildTrack? There are many. For one, a dedicated parent portal helps childcare centers to actively interact with parents and keep them updated on many aspects of the program easily and quickly. 

It saves a lot of time for parents as they need not come to the site or center personally to inquire about matters related to their child’s registration, enrollment, payment.

One of the major benefits of using the EZChildTrack parent portal is that a parent can quickly register their children to programs and enroll them into desired activities. Another benefit is the ability to make online payments using a number of payment methods including credit cards. Pending payments can be quickly settled and there’s no need for parents to physically visit the center. 

In case a parent is not comfortable with making manual payment always, it is possible to enroll for automatic or recurring payments. Apart from this, a parent can also receive the latest updates and news from the childcare center by referring the bulletin board. Any forms pertaining to the childcare program can be accessed and downloaded from the parent portal as well. Accessing the parent portal of EZChildTrack is as easy as it can get. 

A URL and log in credentials will be provided to you, using which you can quickly access the system. No installation or setup of any kind is required as this is a purely web-based software. This also saves considerable time.

The features of EZChildTrack, a preschool management software, can prove to be very beneficial for busy parents who are unable to visit school premises at regular intervals owing to their busy schedules. All it takes is a click of a button to stay notified of their child’s progress at the center.

Women's Professional Self-identity Impacts on Childcare Balance

The benefits of high-quality pre-K and child care are enormous. The more a woman identified as a 'mother', the greater her share of childcare tasks relative to the father; the more hours she was sole carer of the child; the greater the gap between mother's and father's hours of care. 

A new study finds that the more a woman self-identifies with her profession, the more paid hours she works and the less time she spends with the couple's children, but the more equal the childcare balance is between a couple. However, the more a woman identifies herself with motherhood, the less time the father spends with the children. 

The study, from Cambridge University's Department of Sociology, extensively surveyed 148 couples with at least one child aged 6 years or younger to explore how both self-aware and – to some extent – latent individual priorities and ideologies help shape decisions about parenting. 

Full-time employment is still the default option for men; new mothers are expected to remain available to care for their children .Women need to overcome internal and external barriers to commit to full-time employment, and our findings help reveal the ways in which their internalized identities guide their decisions.

Strong paternal or work-related identity only related to the father's own hours of childcare, and had no effect on the amount of childcare time and duties taken on by the mother. While, as with many countries, women's employment rates in the UK have shot up over the last few decades, this country is still dominated by a male-breadwinner/female-caregiver ideology, says Gaunt, with most mothers expected to get part-time work if at all.n fact, while the UK has one of the highest general employment rates in Europe for mothers of preschool children, it has one of the lowest rates of maternal full-time employment – with just one in five couples both in full-time work .

What choices do working parents have?

Most families currently have three options for securing child care.

1. Parents can stay at home and care for their children themselves. But this is increasingly difficult,  Moreover, mothers are more likely than fathers to take time away from paid work to care for a child, which can exacerbate mothers’ lifetime earnings gap.
2.  Parents can pay for child care out of pocket. But this approach is very costly for families, eating up 35.9 percent of a low-income family’s monthly budget.
3.  Families is to use federal- or state-funded child care, but access to any publicly funded program, let alone a high-quality program, is very limited. Nationwide, nearly three in four children are not enrolled in a federal or state-funded pre-K program.

Women need to have the ability to make the choices that are best for them and their families in both the short and long term, and greater national investments in child care and preschool programs

For more, read the full report in 

• http://www.sciencecodex.com/womens_professional_selfidentity_impacts_on_childcare_balance_but_not_mens-137695
• http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education/report/2013/05/08/62519/the-importance-of-preschool-and-child-care-for-working-mothers/