In this Newsletter:

1.  Top wishes for 2012

2.  Overseas visitors keen to connect with high quality ECE services

3.  Conference information and registration

4.  Poverty of experience hurts thousands of NZ's young children - solutions to this problem

5.  The Payroll systems used in early childhood centres and problems

6.  Popular and unique baby names

7.  Making babysitting arrangements and sleep-overs safer

2. Visitors Keen to See High Quality Centres and Home-based Services in Wellington in January

Christine and Carin from Wanslea are coming over to the Early Childhood Research Conference at the end of January.  Wanslea is a not-for-profit, non-government agency providing services to children and families throughout Western Australia.   Whilst in Wellington they would love to visit some high quality home-based services and early childhood centres.   If you are working in or run such a service in Wellington would you please be available to host them for an hour or two and show them your service?   This is a fabulous opportunity to grow your professional network and these kinds of connections are helpful to form.  Please drop us a quick email with your name and name of service, Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it    We will forward your details to Christine who will contact you to make arrangements.  Thanks.

3. Register Now for Early Childhood Conference 26 - 28th January, in Wellington

Register yourself and members of your team now or miss getting a place at the 13th Early Childhood Research Conference being held in Wellington city at the end of January.

* Register easily online - by clicking here  

* or, download a copy of the registration form to post to us  - by clicking here

* View the programme and see the fabulous range of topics being covered and multi-disciplinary research on early childhood which is being shared - by clicking here 

* Print the conference flyer to give to your colleagues, students, or staff - by clicking here

4.  Poverty of Experience Hurting Thousands of NZ Children

About 200,000 New Zealand children are suffering from lack of sufficient food, warm housing and adequate health care with children not reaching their potential in school.

Mr Pearce has recently completed a two-year study entitled “An estimate of the national costs of Child Poverty in New Zealand”.  The study defines child poverty as the relative lack of access to resources, and experiences, which have adverse effects on children’s later educational and personal development.  Mr Pearce highlights the fact that for individuals, the consequences of poverty are more related to “Poverty of Experiences” because these are the factors that influence their future opportunities, rather than directly to low income.

“Income is only a surrogate measure of the likely poverty of experience and this is demonstrated because some children from poor families are very successful.”

So what is the best way to increase the ‘cultural capital’ in households with babies and preschoolers (under 5s)?

Can “cultural capital” be lifted in households that do not have the money to buy books, whose parents have low self-esteem and undeveloped parenting skills?

Or does the solution lie in children going into childcare and mothers on benefits required to find paid work? 

* READ MORE:  click here to go to the full report and add your insights and comments

5.  Payroll Systems in Early Childhood Centres

Doing the wages and calculating annual leave is a problem for many early childhood centres, especially when the centre is small or staff work flexible hours.

A ChildForum member is having problems with MYOB and would like to hear from other early childhood services as to what payroll systems they use and how they get around problems of calculating annual leave.

* READ MORE:  click here to read the full article, add your ideas and comments and read what others suggest

6.  Baby Names

Over the past week many media outlets have put out stories about what not to call a baby and some of the names parents have called (or tried to register) their newborn. 

If you or someone you know is looking for a good source of information for unique names, popular names and Maori names we have comprehensive listings online.  There is also advice on name selection.

*  READ MORE:  Click here for girl names.   Click here for boy names.

7.  Making Babysitting Arrangements and Sleep-Overs Safer

Parents who plan to leave their child in the care of someone else need to make smart choices for their child’s care.

There are people who are competent in childcare and will safeguard a child's interests.   There are also people whose motivation is money and there are still others who see babysitting and sleep-overs as a chance to have unsupervised access to a young child.

For tips on how to make babysitting and sleep-over arrangements safer for a young child, to reduce risk of abuse, and so parents can relax and enjoy their evening out see our article at the link below.

* READ MORE:  Safety tips

Learn more about children's care and teaching, centre and home-based management, early childhood research, and education policy. 
Go to our website by clicking here http://www.childforum.com 

No responsibility is taken for any errors. If you spot an error please inform us so that it can be corrected.
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ChildForum, PO Box 58-078, Porirua 5245, NEW ZEALAND