Considers intellectual and affective reasons for telling tales with young children, placing special emphasis on cultural and restorative effects of storytelling. Offers suggestions for helping young children become reflective--capable of valuing their cultural heritage and coping with personal difficulties. Includes guidelines for helping children…

This article addresses the critical role of caregiver interaction styles in the language development and treatment of infants/children with developmental disabilities. An approach to measuring and guiding adult interactive styles is proposed and related to research in parent-child development and intervention. The approach examines five…

Discusses ways young children, families, and caregivers can work together in toilet learning. Describes signs of child readiness, and ways teachers can be supportive at this stage. Presents a classroom plan to facilitate toileting for 2- and 3- year-olds. Includes tips for parents and for caregivers related to toileting materials, toileting…

Reports on a model that explains the effects of race on the caregiving experience. Data from 741 White and 100 African-American women with adult children having chronic disabilities revealed that even with differences such as age, education, and income, race did not influence caregiving burden or caregiving satisfaction. (RJM)

Interviewed 32 families concerning their narrative practices, basic information about the children's story attachments, and the mothers' beliefs and practices concerning their children's attachments. Found that story attachments were social in two ways: Children created relationships with story characters, and formed story attachments with…

Rituals of calming and soothing children toward sleep are an important part of life in any child care program, just as bedtime routines are basic to family life. This article discusses three nap-time rituals developed for infants and toddlers that incorporate comforting, familiar routines and objects, soothing music, and the reassuring presence of…

Mastery motivation is an internal drive to master a skill, behavior, outcome, or goal. It has been called persistence, "stick-to-it-iveness" (McCall, 1995), goal-directedness, determination, and tenacity. Mastery motivation is expected to foster development as the child is motivated to learn something new. Parents and other caregivers play an…

Mothers and primary professional caregivers of 186 children, aged 6-30 months, participated in this study in which a new measure for daily stability in center day care was developed, describing staffing, grouping, and program features. Relative contributions of infants' daily experiences of care stability, quality of care, and mother's daily…

Foster care in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland has been in crisis throughout the past decade. This is most clearly demonstrated in the shortage of placements for children. The difficulty in recruiting new carers has taken a new significance for most agencies that struggle with more referrals than placements. As it becomes more difficult to…

Since the 1960s, researchers, legislators, advocacy groups, and social partners have examined, analysed, and written articles on the effects of early childhood care outside the family context on children's development and capacity for adaptation. Since the availability of non-parental care for children is often considered essential for women…

Documentation lets teachers visibly assess children's interests and abilities and serves as a tool for recording, reflecting, and supporting children. It also provides parents, children, and others a window into what is happening in the classroom. In The Children's School, the laboratory school at Mills College, teachers are always in search of…

Worldwide, there is concern about the effect of non-parental childcare on children's development although research has shown that good quality alternative childcare during infancy can have a positive effect on children's development. This article reports a study of the use of housemaids instead of qualified caregivers in the Arabian Gulf. Using…

The development of a positive self-concept and self-esteem can affect thinking, feeling, attitudes, and behavior, and determine what children are and their successes in later life. Noting the importance of development of self-concept and self-esteem in the early years, this booklet provides some background information and specific strategies to…

This annotated bibliography on family support services for families of individuals with disabilities lists 115 print resources published from 1979 through 1994. Most references were chosen for inclusion on the basis of addressing the issue of "whatever it takes" to aid families in caring for an individual with a disability and avoiding placing the…

Childhood abuse has been implicated in such difficulties as developmental lags, family dysfunction, social problems, and emotional distress. This paper presents a review of the empirical literature which examines the relationship between physical abuse and object relations impairment. Data in the literature were commonly derived from either…