Growing Readers Together

According to the 2013 report School Readiness for All: The Contribution of Friend, Family, and Neighbor (FFN) Care in Colorado, in 2013 an estimated 142,100 children under six experienced some type of unlicensed childcare, with an additional 160,000 receiving care from a stay-at-home parent. For the report, FFN caregivers in eight Colorado communities participated in a survey that revealed that in-home caregivers had strong interest in receiving training and resources to help them improve their knowledge and skills in educating and caring for young children, including the topics of child brain development, appropriate developmental milestones, enriching activities, and techniques to bolster early literacy. FFN providers wished to receive such training and resources in informal environments with social interactions rather than more formal classes. These findings all point to the excellent opportunity for public library staff to provide library services to FFN providers in their communities, with the ultimate goal of increasing the quality and quantity of early literacy activities that providers engage in daily with the children in their care.