CareLuLu

H ow the heck did your child find the cookies aisle in the supermarket? And why that particular package? Is there a subsonic kid-only whistle attached to it or something?

The fact is that professional food marketers, especially children’s food marketers, put the “fiendishly” in fiendishly clever. They have done the research on that particular color scheme and advised the store to put it at that particular eye level. In a lot of ways they know (statistically anyway) your child’s visual cues and what presses her psychological buttons better than you do.

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W hoa! Where did you hear that?

If your child uses a bad word at home, he or she may well have heard it from you. If you needed a reason to clean up your language, now you have a very powerful one!

On the other hand, there are a few reasons why it may not be completely your fault. For example:

Technology is quickly making parental controls a thing of the past. For example, the “best” clips from TV shows are: a) usually the “worst” for kids and b) usually available on YouTube. Parental controls are not perfect and let’s face it, these days it seems like children are born knowing how to circumvent them. Think for a second about what you were playing with when you were a kid. Well, your kid is playing with your smartphone. Go figure.

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I n our last post we covered what high quality child care looks like, and most of the clues come from observing how your child reacts after they start going to daycare or preschool. In this post we will cover how you can evaluate a child care or preschool program before your child enrolls.

The daycare and preschool tour is a (maybe even the) key moment in the decision making process so it’s important that you do your homework before you visit (and make sure the preschool does theirs). Here’s how to make the most of your daycare tour:

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Entrusting your child to someone else is a big deal. In fact, is there a bigger deal?

So, how do you choose the right people to care for your child? How do you know if a child care center is actually good? How can you tell, when your child is so young?

The short answer is that it’s difficult to say. There is a lot of theory involved, and yes, theory is absolutely important. But when it comes to younger children, the best care comes from the heart, not out of a textbook.

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I t seems like there is a new smartphone app coming out every day to handle some real or imagined inconvenience. And as you know there are plenty of real inconveniences associated with parenting!

Apps come and go (their popularity does, anyway) but the challenges that preschool parents face are fairly predictable. “Don’t forget that! I need it yesterday! Where is…?”

In this post, we present the top 10 app categories for preschool parents with a few examples of apps that are on the market. Some of the apps have been specifically designed for parents; some just provide solutions parents find particularly useful.

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I always had passion for learning and exploration.  These two personal traits often got me in trouble with my elders, when I was a child.  As I got older, the spontaneity of my actions had to change to conform to the responsibility of the adult world; however, the love of that curiosity stuck with me till this day. 

I started child care because I believe every child needs a safe, nurturing and a challenging environment where they can learn and explore.  Few of the preschools and child care programs that I visited prior to opening Kiddie Academy of Ashburn were run with a primary focus on business.  It bothered me a little bit not because it was wrong, but because the focus has shifted from quality and personal care to enrollment by the numbers. I remind myself and my management team and staff every day that we are here for the children and their families, and our passion for what we do should never cease. Indeed, the impression we leave on these children is what is going to form and shape their future.  What an extraordinary feeling, but also what a great responsibility!

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Having kids is expensive. Very expensive. The food, the clothes, the diapers and the toys are just the beginning. For most families, child care is the highest single household expense, as mentioned in this recent Yahoo Finance article.

But, there’s good news! Uncle Sam is here to help and can offset some of your daycare costs. However, in order to get it, you need to be aware of some important facts. Here are 10 things you need to know to claim your child care tax credit (aka Child and Dependent Care Credit):

1. You must identify each qualifying child on your tax return.

The qualifying child must be your dependent and qualifying children must have been 12 or younger when the care was provided. The logic is that most children over 12 are able to look after themselves. However, if your child is over 12 but incapable of self-care then they may also qualify.

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You asked and we delivered! Now you can use our brand new Daycare Tuition Calculator to know the average cost of child care in your area.

Choosing a daycare or preschool can be challenging.  And for most parents, cost is a major deciding factor in selecting a program.

Our new daycare tuition calculator automatically tells you the average weekly tuition rates in your city, or state based on your zip code, your child’s age, and the type of program you’re considering, home daycare or a child care center.

We’ll even suggest a few child care providers and preschools in your area that may be just the right fit!  As parents, we understand the challenges of finding the perfect daycare for your family.  We hope this tool helps you find the right place for your little one!

We’ve all been there.  You go to pick up your sweetie from preschool. You’re ecstatic to see your preschooler and they are over the moon to see you. You hug, you kiss, you gather up their belongings and you scoop them into your arms.  Then, you ask the question that parents have been asking since, it seems, formal schooling began:

How was your day?

It’s a simple question. Only 4 words. You anticipate a long list of activities, lessons, learning experiences and social accomplishments! You want to hear everything. You are giddy. Did they paint? Did they color? What songs did they sing? Did they get to play outside or was the playground too wet?

But…

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Parents return to work after having children for a myriad of reasons. For some, it is out of financial necessity. For others, it’s because they genuinely love their jobs. But no matter the reason, that first day of daycare drop-off is hard on just about every parent. The working parent guilt is very real.

No matter how much a person loves his or her job, and no matter how ill-suited they feel about being a stay-at-home mom or stay-at-home dad, it is heart-breaking to hand the child they love so much off to someone else for 8 to 10 hours a day. It’s hard to miss the many “firsts” that occur over the course of early childhood development, and it is sad to not be the one there, kissing all the booboos and providing all the care.

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