Beginning Years Celebrating NAEYC’s 40th Annual Week of the Young Child

There are many influences in the development and growth of a young child and at 50 North St. is spending this week celebrating all who are involved in a young child’s life.

As part of National Association for the Education of Young Children’s Week of the Young Child, Beginning Years will celebrate its young students, their parents and the community members that influence the growth and development of these children, according to Beginning Years owner Cathleen Farrell.

“We’re celebrating all the different people in children’s lives [this week],” Farrell said. “For instance, I am celebrating my teachers this week by having a special lunch for them. We are celebrating the children by doing some special things. One of the things we are doing, that I’m most excited about, is we are having various community people that are involved in children’s lives come in and read to the children.”

Among the special guests reading to children at the center this week are Andrea Trasher, principal of , Chief Robert Meaney Jr., Chief William Kingsbury and Jim James, owner of . A special pizza lunch is also planned for the children this week.

Farrell said the center will also be showing appreciation to parents by offering them breakfast this week, courtesy of on North Street.

“In the mornings, what I do to celebrate the parents is a breakfast for them as they are coming in and dropping off their kids,” Farrell said. “They are offered coffee and bagels and I can chat with them a little bit about why this week is special and celebrate them and their children.”

In addition to celebrating the people involved in the lives of the children, Farrell said the Week of the Young Child, which runs from April 23-27, is an opportunity to remind parents how children learn, grow and evolve.

“We are really trying to help remind parents about how children learn within the different areas of the classroom,” Farrell said. “We are really trying to post signage of when a child is playing in sensory a child is learning creativity and building fine motor skills.”

This week, according to Farrell, represents the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s (NAEYC)  40th anniversary recognizing the Week of the Young Child, a week-long event Beginning Years has participated in every year since becoming a NAEYC accredited program eight years ago.

“For years, we have celebrated that week because it is our chance to be able to celebrate being a NAEYC program but also to really celebrate children as a whole and families and everyone involved in the lives of growing children,” Farrell said. “We have always celebrated Week of the Young Child.”

Farrell said Medfield's Beginning Years is only eight percent of the child development programs in the country that are NAEYC accredited.

“It is a long and hard process,” Farrell said. “It’s really evaluating why you do what you do and evaluate every piece of your curriculum and designing your program. … NAEYC is a higher standard than what you need to be a preschool or a childcare program and in Massachusetts, you have to have licensing through the state so it is like an extra layer above that.”

Beginning Years currently provides child development services to 65 families throughout the area, including children from Franklin, Newton and Bellingham and strives to bring other communities together under one roof at 50 North St.

“Being in a small town where everyone is connected to everybody, I think that’s really sweet," Farrell said. "We have families from other communities but one of the things that brings them together is they are part of our community at Beginning Years.”

It is that sense of community that makes celebrating NAEYC’s Week of the Young Child an important program for Farrell and her staff.

“Beginning Years is really about the community and all of the people that participate in that and the growing of children,” Farrell said. “They help us do our job and we help them do their job.”

More about NAEYC’s Week of the Young Child

NAEYC, celebrating its 40th anniversary of the Week of the Young Child, describes the annual celebration as a week designed to focus “public attention on the needs of young children and their families and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs.”

Fore more information, click here.