Did You Know?

The U.S. Department of Labor has established law that applies to the time a child care staff member spends attending workshops/classes and whether/how they are paid for that time.

Workshop attendance that any State requires for staff, so that a facility can maintain child care licensing, must be counted as work time and compensated. In Missouri, the Section for Child Care Regulation requires that everyone counted in the child-to-staff ratio earns 12 hours of approved workshops or classes each year. The time that a staff member spends earning those required 12 clock hours is considered work time and she or he must be paid.

If the time of the workshop/class is included in a standard full-time work week as defined by the employer’s personnel policies, staff should be compensated at their usual salaries. If the time of the workshop/class is overtime beyond the standard work week, staff should be paid at the overtime rate consistent with the U.S. Department of Labor guidelines and established in the personnel policies.

Are there any exceptions?
There is only one exception to this requirement. If ALL four of the following items are true, then the training is not counted as work time:
• The workshop/class occurs outside the normal scheduled hours of work AND
• The individual’s attendance is completely voluntary AND
• The workshop/class is not job-related AND
• No other work is performed during the workshop/class period

For more information, contact the U.S. Department of Labor at 1-866-4-USWAGE or visit the Wage and Hour Division Website.

DSS Announces Child Care Facility Improvement Grant

All information about how to apply can be found at the Department of Social Services website.

If you are interested in applying, you are invited to attend an informational meeting:

A pre-application conference regarding this Request for Application (RFA) will be held on January 14, 2010 at 9:00 a.m., in Room 492 of the Harry S. Truman Building, 301 W. High Street, Jefferson City, MO 65101. Additional conference dates may be added if warranted.

Long Term Effects of Child Abuse and Neglect: Cost to Society and Individuals

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) recently released an article describing studies about the long term consequences of child maltreatment to the individual and to society.

Children who have experienced abuse or neglect are likely to experience many challenges as adults. These challenges include:

higher rates of unemployment and poverty in adulthood.

physical and mental health challenges in adulthood.

significantly higher use of social services than people without a history of childhood maltreatment.

Overall, adults who had experienced any type of maltreatment in childhood were twice as likely as non-victims to be unemployed. In terms of income, adults who had been physically abused as children were 60 percent more likely than non-victims to be living in poverty. The incidence rose to 180 percent for those who had experienced more than one type of childhood maltreatment.

Maltreatment was also linked to lower rates of health care coverage and greater use of social services such as Medicaid, especially among adults who had experienced childhood sexual abuse.

In the first comprehensive study of the long-term socioeconomic effects of abuse and neglect, Zielinski shows that childhood maltreatment carries significant costs to the individual and to society. Not only does the public share the burden in supporting maltreatment-related social services—such as child welfare services—but also those related to unemployment insurance, poverty-based public assistance, and publicly funded health insurance, such as Medicaid. Other societal impacts include the loss in employment productivity and tax revenues, from federal and state income taxes as well as state and local sales taxes.

Additional research has found that parents who were maltreated as children are more likely to abuse and neglect their own children than those without a history of maltreatment. Targeted assistance for maltreatment victims may help break this cycle.

To read the full article here.

Healthy Turkey Shaped Cookies Recipe

Graham Cracker Turkey Cookies

Looking for a healthy alternative at snack time? These tasty turkeys, made with the naturally sweet goodness of graham and whole wheat flours, cinnamon, vanilla, apple and banana, will be gobbled up at the Thanksgiving table. Your kids will love cutting out the cookies and decorating them.

Ingredients
1/4 cup unsweetened frozen apple juice concentrate
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 sliced banana
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup graham flour *
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
Turkey-shaped cookie cutter
* Graham flour is a kind of flour, just like the more common wheat flour. If you can't find it in your supermarket, try calling health food stores.

Cooking Instructions
Combine apple juice, oil, banana, vanilla, and cinnamon in a blender.
In a large bowl, mix together graham flour, whole-wheat flour, baking soda, and salt.
Add apple juice mixture to flour mixture and stir thoroughly.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut out with turkey shaped cookie cutter.
Use a fork to poke holes for eyes and feathers.
Bake at 350 degrees F for eight minutes.

This recipe was taken from Kaboose. Check out their website for fun cooking, crafts, and activity ideas for parents and caregivers!

Encourage Creativity while Fundraising for Your Child Care Program

The staff of Workshop on Wheels are always eager to promote children's creativity and expression in their artwork. As you're allowing children to learn and grow in the art center, it's also important to show them that you value what they create. The Arsonia website is a wonderful way to showcase your childrens' artwork, and it even has ways you can raise money for your program.

Artsonia is the world's largest kids art museum online. It's the newest way to celebrate creativity in the classroom and get families involved in art education!

Kids develop a new sense of pride and feel like famous artists published in a museum!

Family and friends view the artwork, join fan clubs and leave personal comments for the artists.

Schools earn 15% when parents purchase custom keepsakes with their child's artwork – a great fundraiser for your arts program!

Thousands of Art Project Lesson Plan Starters have been submitted by teachers just like you, and are available as a resource for your classroom!

Visit the website to find out more. And if you have questions about developmentally appropriate art experiences in child care programs, contact Workshop on Wheels!

Trick or Treat! Halloween Safety Tips

There are many ways to keep your child safe at Halloween, when they are more prone to accidents and injuries. The excitement of children and adults at this time of year sometimes makes them forget to be careful. Simple common sense can do a lot to stop any tragedies from happening.

Help your child pick out or make a costume that will be safe. Make it fire proof, the eye holes should be large enough for good peripheral vision.

If you set jack-o-lanterns on your porch with candles in them, make sure that they are far enough out of the way so that kids costumes won't accidentally be set on fire.

Make sure that if your child is carrying a prop, such as a scythe, butcher knife or a pitchfork, that the tips are smooth and flexible enough to not cause injury if fallen on.

Kids always want to help with the pumpkin carving. Small children shouldn't be allowed to use a sharp knife to cut the top or the face. There are many kits available that come with tiny saws that work better then knives and are safer, although you can be cut by them as well. It's best to let the kids clean out the pumpkin and draw a face on it, which you can carve for them.

Treating your kids to a spooky Halloween dinner will make them less likely to eat the candy they collect before you have a chance to check it for them.

Teaching your kids basic everyday safety such as not getting into cars or talking to strangers, watching both ways before crossing streets and crossing when the lights tell you to, will help make them safer when they are out Trick or Treating.

Make Halloween a fun, safe and happy time for your kids and they'll carry on the tradition that you taught them to their own families some day!

Read the full article at: http://www.halloween-safety.com/halloween_safety_kids.html

Free Handwashing Poster

Handwashing can play a significant impact in reducing the spread of infection in childcare, and health experts are encouraging diligent handwashing to help prevent H1N1 (previously known as swine flu) influenza. Healthy Childcare has made available a free downloadable poster you can use to help children learn the importance of handwashing.

Visit the Healthy Childcare website to learn more about promoting healthy habits in young children.