It’s summertime and a variety of activities fill the schedules of kids and families. The warm weather brings more opportunity for fun outdoors, but also the potential for accidents. Here are a few safety rules to keep you and your loved ones safe as you enjoy the summer.
Reading together builds closer relationships plus language and literacy skills for the youngest people in our lives!
The Buffett Early Childhood Institute is an innovative, multidisciplinary research, practice, and policy institute of the four University of Nebraska campuses. Our mission is to ensure that all children, birth to age 8, especially those who are vulnerable because of poverty, abuse, or developmental, learning, or behavioral challenges, have the opportunity to reach their potential.
This adorable father/son superhero team’s photo went viral last year, gathering almost 1.7 million comments in just two days, according to the Huffington Post. One commenter pinpointed why the image struck such a chord: “A good dad is always a hero to their kids. Capes just let the world see it a little better.”
School is out for the summer and many families are planning their vacation. The logistics of pulling off a family vacation are huge—scheduling time off work around swim lessons and day camps, booking hotels and things to do, buying airfare or mapping out a road trip, and packing.
An astonishing 75% of young adults in the U.S. could not qualify to join the military due to (1) failure to meet the educational requirements, (2) criminal convictions, or (3) being overweight. Moreover, one in five U.S. military recruits score too low on the Armed Forces Qualification Test to join the Army.
Thousands of Nebraska high school seniors will graduate in the next couple of weeks and celebrate the milestone with family and friends. Graduating high school is a significant achievement that impacts the well-being of our state.
At-risk children under age 3 in Nebraska currently face long odds to gain access to high-quality early childhood learning opportunities. Estimates are that only 1 in 10 at-risk Nebraska children have access to early learning experiences that close the achievement gap by age 3.
The more we learn about early childhood development, the more we realize the truth behind Lincoln’s words. We now know that brain architecture is profoundly affected by our earliest experiences and interactions, and mothers and fathers are a child’s first and most influential relationships.
Today is Arbor Day, a holiday pioneered by Nebraska’s J. Sterling Morton in 1872. Morton started the holiday to beautify Nebraska’s prairies, which naturally lacked trees. Morton recognized that trees would help Nebraska farmers create windbreaks and conserve soil, as well as make the state appear less desolate to investors and others passing through.
Toxic stress in families with young children is rarely the product of a single cause, but a confluence of factors that contribute to a breakdown in familial bonding. The presence of outright abuse or neglect, domestic violence, substance abuse or depression in the family are, of course, obvious signs of that breakdown, and effectively undercut the parent-child bond as a crucial source of emotional stability for young children.
As social and economic pressures facing families continue to mount, the incidence of stress as a chronic physiological condition is increasing. The effects of prolonged stress on individual adults are high enough—its relationship to hypertension, cardiovascular disease, stroke, suppressed immune function and other health issues is well documented.