Updating your Goals as a Child Care Provider
As early childhood professionals, we must constantly set new goals for our child care programs and try to stay ahead of new trends within our field. We need to strive to mentally absorb the all...
Military families relocate 10 times more often than civilian families – on average, every 2 or 3 years.i This constant change of location can create stress on military families with young children. It also emphasizes the need for high-quality childhood education that is available anywhere a military family is located in the U.S. or worldwide.
The need for quality, consistency in military family life is helped by well-trained early childhood educators who understand military families and their children. For its part, the Department of Defense has a strong commitment to families of service members. That commitment is one of the reasons why the Council for Professional Recognition provides a CDA Credential specifically designed for early childhood educators who serve military families worldwide.
The DOD’s support of early childhood education produces consistent excellence in family childhood education and care centers worldwide whether they are located on- and off-base. “Military childhood education and care is some of the best in the nation and world. What has helped them to be the best is that they’ve had a strong and deep investment in the Council’s Child Development Associate® Credential. We’re proud to be part of their continuous success,” Valora Washington, CEO, Council for Professional Recognition.
An estimated 40% of military parents have children in the birth to five years of age range.ii Many of these young children attend early education facilities either part- or full-time. The DOD and the Council recognize that the educators teaching military children must be prepared with child development knowledge, but also trained in social emotional skills. It is this knowledge that will equip educators to work with and help any military children who may experience challenges related to their parents’ jobs or their transient military lifestyle.
Potential Challenges Military Families Face
• Relocation – including attending many new child care programs and adapting to new lifestyles• The impact of short- or long-term deployment or relocation of parent(s)
• Emotional and social distress
• Parental health concerns
As an educator working with military children it is important you know how to bring a positive perspective to the difficulties military families might face.
How Educators Address These Challenges
Reduce stressii
• Offer plenty of opportunities for children to move their bodies – indoors and outdoors
• Plan individual and group options for doing an activity
• Limit the time children have to wait
• Reduce the buzz and glare from overhead lights
• Spend one-on-one time with each child
• Establish routines and rituals
• Have fun together
Connect with familiesii
• Communicate with families daily
• Reflect the military culture in your child care setting
• Encourage families to visit during the day
• Send pictures or videos of the child care program’s daily life to the family
Foster healthy emotional and social developmentiii
• Help develop interactions and conversations to support positive relationships
• Teach children to express and identify emotion and reflect on the perspective of others
• Teach children to work on self-regulation and self-care
• Provide opportunities to be successful and involved in meaningful play
Remember that it’s important to create a routine for each child while having fun with activities. This balance can create a safe and nurturing environment for any young child undergoing any type of stressful event in his or her life.
i 11 Facts About Military Families https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-military-families
ii Mindsets to Support Military Connected Children & Families. (n.d.) Retrieved from https://bkc.vmhost.psu.edu/documents/HO_MIL_GI_Mindset.pdf
iii Washington, V. (2017). Essentials for Working with Young Children (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: The Council for Professional Recognition.
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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.
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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.
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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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