Educational programs that provide opportunities for early childhood development are disappearing
Vancouver Sun
April 15, 2010

By Hillel Goelman, director of the CHILD Project and chair of the Interdisciplinary Studies Graduate Program at the University of B.C.

Sometime between, roughly, the ages of three and five, children begin to grasp knock-knock jokes. At first they have no idea what these bad puns are all about. Then they seem to understand them, but struggle telling them. But when they get good at telling them, watch out. ...

Children are open and curious and understand their world through interaction with parents, siblings, friends and teachers. Children thrive -- at home, in preschool, in child care, in sports, in unstructured play -- when they interact. These interactions are what U.S. psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner called, "the engine of child development." Every child can benefit by having his or her engine primed and tuned; the engine that moves them today sets them in the right direction for their continued development tomorrow….

Resources for child care, parent education and family resources have been cut. ...

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