HOUSTON — The sixth annual Child Care Conference, set for Feb. 16 at Texas Southern University, will focus on helping child care providers develop the whole child in a clean environment.
The conference is presented by Texas Cooperative Extension of Fort Bend, Harris and Waller counties in partnership with Texas Southern University’s Tobacco Prevention Education, the Cooperative Extension Program at Prairie View A&M University, Child Care Licensing, Initiatives for Children Inc., Neighborhood Centers Inc., and Creative World Child Care Center.
The meeting runs from 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. at the Jesse Jones School of Business Building at Texas Southern University. Registration is $35. For more information, call Extension in Harris County at (281) 855-5600.
Part of the conference will focus on tobacco prevention education.
“We will train child care providers how to teach the children (about the hazards of smoking), and the children will take the information home to parents who may smoke,” said Gene Wilson, county Extension agent for family and consumer sciences. “And, of course, you have a number of child care workers who still smoke, and they need to what to do so that they are not putting the children’s health at risk.”
The conference also will offer training on providing a clean child care setting, teaching children, keeping children and employees safe and developing business skills for running a successful center.
“We are offering training in health as well as nutrition, including exercise,” Shirley Brown, county Extension agent for family and consumer sciences, said. “We don’t want to put children on a diet, but begin healthy living habits from as early as pre-school.”
One of the most requested workshops is offered by the Extension horticulture program. Teachers are instructed on how to use cylinder gardening as an effective curriculum for teaching the environment and exercise as well as nutrition.
“We not talking about needing a lot of acreage to accomplish this,” Brown said. “And, when a child has been responsible for watering and nurturing a plant, suddenly the idea of eating the vegetable is much more interesting because they actually grew the vegetable.”
Other sessions focus on grandparents as parents, child transportation safety, monitoring plans, risk evaluation, and listening and speaking techniques.
Texas Cooperative Extension offers informal education on a variety of subjects, including home gardening, home and family life, personal and family finances, environmental protection, and youth leadership and development.
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