Children and Childhoods 1


Book Description

The early years of life are fast gaining prominence around the world. It is well documented that investment in early childhood results in exceptionally high returns in multiple arenas; greater than those resulting from enterprise focused on later periods in people’s lives. This book presents current early years research that reflects the transdisciplinary nature of childhood. The first in the Children and Childhoods series, this volume examines multiple perspectives, places and practices that constitute early childhood. The many facets of how children and childhoods are seen, where they are enacted and how they are played out are explained through explorations of playgrounds, hospitals, museums, child care centres and other locations. Similarly diverse are the methodologies that underpin these investigations. Children, practitioners, families and researchers all contribute to this cornucopia of children and childhoods.




Unequal Childhoods


Book Description

This book is a powerful portrayal of class inequalities in the United States. It contains insightful analysis of the processes through which inequality is reproduced, and it frankly engages with methodological and analytic dilemmas usually glossed over in academic texts.




Unequal Childhoods


Book Description

Class does make a difference in the lives and futures of American children. Drawing on in-depth observations of black and white middle-class, working-class, and poor families, Unequal Childhoods explores this fact, offering a picture of childhood today. Here are the frenetic families managing their children's hectic schedules of "leisure" activities; and here are families with plenty of time but little economic security. Lareau shows how middle-class parents, whether black or white, engage in a process of "concerted cultivation" designed to draw out children's talents and skills, while working-class and poor families rely on "the accomplishment of natural growth," in which a child's development unfolds spontaneously—as long as basic comfort, food, and shelter are provided. Each of these approaches to childrearing brings its own benefits and its own drawbacks. In identifying and analyzing differences between the two, Lareau demonstrates the power, and limits, of social class in shaping the lives of America's children. The first edition of Unequal Childhoods was an instant classic, portraying in riveting detail the unexpected ways in which social class influences parenting in white and African-American families. A decade later, Annette Lareau has revisited the same families and interviewed the original subjects to examine the impact of social class in the transition to adulthood.




Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8


Book Description

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.




The Early Advantage 1


Book Description

Learn how exemplary countries are dealing with the challenges and joys of advancing the development of their youngest citizens. In this book, Sharon Lynn Kagan and her contributors systematically examine how six diverse countries go about envisioning, designing, and implementing their services to young children and their families. The Early Advantage 1 sheds light on new and exciting approaches to early childhood education and care (ECEC) that are contributing to the quality, equity, efficiency, and sustainability of services for young children. Brimming with fresh insights, the text provides concrete examples of successfully implemented strategies and methods that warrant attention from other countries wishing to improve their early childhood services. The 2-year comparative analysis upon which this volume is based was made possible with funding and support from the National Center on Education and the Economy’s (NCEE) Center on International Education Benchmarking. Book Features: Presents groundbreaking approaches to early childhood policy, practice, and service delivery from around the globe. Based on contributions from leading scholars and policymakers from six countries: Australia, England, Finland, Hong Kong, Korea, and Singapore. Acknowledges the important role of culture in shaping the quality and array of services afforded to young children. Uses rigorous research that includes common designs, vetted protocols, and repeated validations. Includes detailed country fact sheets with data on demographics, governmental expenditures, staff qualifications, mandated monitoring systems, and more. Is part of NCEE’s research into the 9 Building Blocks for a World-Class Education System. Contributors: Rebecca Bull, co-principal investigator, Singapore. Alfredo Bautista, contributing author, Singapore. Lily Fritz, contributing author, England. Bridget Healey, contributing author, Australia. Sharon Lynn Kagan, principal investigator, U.S. Kristiina Kumpulainen, co-principal investigator, Finland. Eva Landsberg, contributing author, National Center for Children and Families, U.S. Carrie Lau, contributing author, Hong Kong. Mugyeong Moon, co-principal investigator, Republic of Korea. Grace Murkett, contributing author, England. Tom Peachey, contributing author, Australia. Nirmala Rao, co-principal investigator, Hong Kong. Kathy Sylva, co-principal investigator, England. Collette Tayler, co-principal investigator, Australia.




Discovering Childhood in International Relations


Book Description

This book examines how and why, in the context of International Relations, children’s subjecthood has all too often been relegated to marginal terrains and children themselves automatically associated with the need for protection in vulnerable situations: as child soldiers, refugees, and conflated with women, all typically with the accent on the Global South. Challenging us to think critically about childhood as a technology of global governance, the authors explore alternative ways of finding children and their agency in a more central position in IR, in terms of various forms of children’s activism, children and climate change, children and security, children and resilience, and in their inevitable role in governing the future. Focusing on the problems, pitfalls, promises, and prospects of addressing children and childhoods in International Relations, this book places children more squarely in the purview of political subjecthood and hence more centrally in IR.




Narrating Childhood with Children and Young People


Book Description

This volume draws together scholarly contributions from diverse, yet interlinking disciplinary fields, with the aim of critically examining the value of narrative inquiry in understanding the everyday lives of children and young people in diverse spaces and places, including the home, recreational spaces, communities and educational spaces. Incorporating insights from sociology, geography, education, child and youth studies, social care, and social work, the collection emphasises how narrative research approaches present storytelling as a universally recognizable, valuable and effective methodological approach with children and young people. The chapters points to the diversity of spaces and places encountered by children and young people, considers how young people ‘tell tales’ about their lives and highlights the multidimensionality of narrative research in capturing their everyday lived experiences.




Two Homes, One Childhood


Book Description

A paradigm-shifting model of parenting children in two homes from an internationally recognized expert. A researcher, therapist, and mediator, Robert Emery, Ph.D., details a new approach to sharing custody with children in two homes. Huge numbers of children are affected by separation, divorce, cohabitation breakups, and childbearing outside of marriage. These children have two homes. But their parents have only one chance to protect their childhood. Building on his 2004 book The Truth About Children and Divorce and a strong evidence base, including his own research, Emery explains that a parenting plan that lasts a lifetime is one that grows and changes along with children’s—and families’—developing needs. Parents can and should work together to renegotiate schedules to best meet the changing needs of children from infancy through young adult life. Divided into chapters that address the specific needs of children as they grow up, Emery: • Introduces his Hierarchy of Children’s Needs in Divorce • Provides specific advice for successful parenting, starting with infancy and reaching into emerging adulthood • Advocates for joint custody but notes that children do not count minutes and neither should parents • Highlights that there is only one “side” for parents to take in divorce: the children’s side Himself the father of five children, one from his first marriage, Emery brings a rare combination of personal and professional insight and guidance for every parent raising a child in two homes.




Where is Bear?


Book Description

"Meet Tiger, Bear, and their forest friends, Bird, Frog, Fox, and Turtle! In this terrifically unique and interactive tale, your 2-year-old child with help Tiger find Bear. Each step in your child's quest to find Bear highlights important milestones in your child's growth and development. Look for the leaf at the bottom of the page for these Milestone Moments"--Back cover.




From Neurons to Neighborhoods


Book Description

How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.