Celebrate Week of the Young Child

WOYC is April 10 – 16

Week of the Young Child

April 10 – 16

Next week marks the fiftieth anniversary of NAEYC’s Week of the Young Child (WOYC). WOYC is an important time in the world of early care and education – when parents, educators, and early education stakeholders join forces to showcase the importance of high-quality early learning, and the critical role early childhood educators play in child development.

We All Win When Children have Access to Early Education

We all agree to share the cost of the K-12 school system, because we understand the larger societal benefits of an educated community. However, despite decades of research and scientific evidence exhibiting the profound impact of early education, many families struggle to access it.

While the past year has been a new and unfortunate challenge for our sector, there is a silver lining — as parents struggled to secure care and many were forced to care for children while working from home, and essential industries and workers leaned on child care providers to enable their vital services to continue, the fragility of the child care sector was on display.

As a result, there are encouraging discussions happening at both the state and federal levels that could lead to a revaluation and increased investment in the critical child care infrastructure. Parents, policy-makers and all community members see the first five years for what it is — the most important period of human development. Early education is trending, but we’re far from declaring victory.

Everyone can participate in Week of the Young Child

Help show off the amazing work that is happening in homes and early care and education programs throughout our community. Here are some simple ways you can participate in WOYC.

  • Download NAEYC’s Week of the Young Child toolkit for resources, activities and action steps to guide for your WOYC celebrations.
  • Join our advocacy alerts email list to receive timely opportunities to influence change.
  • Share the amazing work you’re doing at home or that of an early educator with us on social media. Don’t forget to tag TFC and include the hashtag #ECEWins.