Kentucky’s Early Childhood Parent Guides

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To help families understand the kinds of everyday activities that support children’s brain development, growth and learning, Kentucky has developed two Parent Guides that are based on Kentucky’s Early Childhood Standards.

¥If you have time, take a moment to explain that Kentucky’s Early Childhood Standards identify what young children need to know and be able to do from birth through four years old that will set the foundation for a child’s success in school.

There are two Parent Guides. One guide focuses on infants and toddlers (birth to three) and the second guide focuses on preschoolers (three through four).

Each guide was designed to help parents develop appropriate expectations for their children and to understand the kinds of everyday activities that support children’s growth and learning.

These Parent Guides identify simple, everyday things you can do with your child that will give your child the experiences needed to create the neural networks that form the foundation of the knowledge that your child will need in order to be successful in school.

Distribute the parent guides.

The pages on the left side identify the knowledge and skills children are developing in different areas (e.g., language development, physical development). The pages on the right side identify things families can do to support development in each of these areas.   These Parent Guides can be downloaded from www.kidsnow.ky.gov (click on Building A Strong Foundation, and then scroll down to the Parent Guides).

The latest document in the Building A Strong Foundation series is the GPS Guide to A Child’s Success: Field Guide to the Kentucky Early Childhood Standards (Birth to Three, Three-Four). Although developed for use by early childhood professionals, some families may find these documents informative and helpful (they contain more information than the Parent Guides).  These documents can also be downloaded from www.kidsnow.ky.gov).