Words of Inspiration and Motivation

In Sylvia Chard and Yvonne Kogan’s beautiful new photography book, children discover the world through play, experience, investigation and relationships.

For as long as the sun is up, children’s minds and bodies are seldom still. They are continuously acting and reacting, thinking and speaking, anticipating and reflecting. 
Children gain so much simply by living their world.

“...Sylvia Chard and Yvonne Kogan take us back into our own childhoods, but more importantly, they enable us to recognize, even to name, the child like qualities we as human beings need to preserve as we grow up.”

“Childhood is where our tools for survival are discovered and sharpened: curiosity; acceptance of others; imagination; appreciation of time and place; sense of adventure; and determination that does not give in to challenges, but recognizes inevitable limitations.”
by Sylvia Chard and Yvonne Kogan


The high turnover rate among poorly paid child-care workers...creates an unstable environment precisely when stability is most needed in a child's life. "Turnover among childcare workers is second only to parking-lot and gas-station attendants," says Marcy Whitebook, director of the National Child Care Staffing Study.  A study conducted by the Child Care Employee Project in Oakland, California, shows a 41 percent annual turnover rate at daycare operations across the nation.
 

Who's Missing at the Table?

Leadership Opportunities and Barriers for Teachers and Providers

Marcy Whitebook

I would suggest that the early childhood community is likewise caught in the grips of culturally sanctioned notions of leadership and, as a consequence, fails to recognize the full spectrum of leaders among us. In so doing, we stifle important, creative energy in our field, restricting our understanding of who leaders are and preventing the valuable contributions and perspectives of many. Specifically, acknowledged leadership in our field tends to mirror the larger society values that demean caregiving work performed by women and involving children. As a result, the acknowledged leaders in our field typically do not work directly with children, and the leadership qualities of those that do each day are routinely overlooked.