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Many of us believe that Idaho is unquestionably the best place on earth to live, work, play and raise our families. We share the same values... including citizenship, work ethic, a vibrant economy, respect for natural resources, our sense of fair play, love of family and especially how we nurture our children. Nobody doubts that today's children are Idaho's future. Accordingly, we have this sense of community and care about all of our children, not just our own, but the child next door and the child that sits next to our own in class. We want every child to grow up happy and eventually experience all that Idaho's future prosperity brings.
So what does that take and what does that look like? Simply put: Quality early childhood experiences build capable children. And capable children become the foundation for a prosperous and sustainable society. So we want you to know how to build those capabilities. Decades of scientific research on the development of children prove how critical quality early childhood experiences are for our children.
And the earliest years count the most: Children are learning every minute of every day and by the age of 3, 80% of all brain development has already occurred. This means that before pre-school, children have already "learned" to be social, healthy, and active participants in their families and communities. And School readiness is more than words and numbers. Knowing the ABC's is not enough. To be prepared for school children must be excited and curious about learning and confident they can succeed. Indeed, kindergarten teachers rate skills such as understanding one's own feelings and getting along with peers as more important to school success than being able to hold a pencil and read.
The traditional greeting for the Maasai African tribe is "Kasserian ingera" which means "And how are the children?"  Read more about it.
View our new video presentation called Investing in Idaho's Future:
Quality Early Childhood Care & Education.
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