Rose Kennedy:

"I looked on child rearing not only as a work of love and duty but as a profession that was fully as interesting and challenging as any honorable profession in the world and one that demanded the best that I could bring to it.
--Rose Kennedy, born 1890, mother of a U.S. President, an Attorney General, a U.S. Senator, a Navy aviator, a marchioness, an ambassador and 3 other children

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

"Play is an expression of our creativity, and creativity is at the very root of our ability to learn, to cope, and to become whatever we may be."
--Fred Rogers, pbs.org/rogers

Maria Montessori:

"Adults admire their environment; they can remember it and think about it -- but a child absorbs it. The things he sees are not just remembered; they form part of his soul. He incarnates in himself all in the world about him that his eyes see and his ears hear."
--Maria Montessori, educator, physician, philosopher

The importance of your child's environment

"Absorbing a host of impressions through his senses is almost the exclusive task of the infant...Often the whole life of a person is not sufficient to efface the impressions absorbed in childhood, because his whole being, like a large eye, was open and wholly given to them. For this reason the care of an infant is so important."
-- Friedrich Froebel, educator, founder of the Kindergarten

Brain Development in Babies

"Babies are busy 'wiring' their brains. They are born with all the brain cells (neurons) they need, but they are not 'intelligent' as we understand that term...they perceive but don't think the way we so because they can't retain images or symbols in their minds. Babies construct intelligence through experience, welding sparsely connected neurons into densely interconnected pathways."
-- Jim Greenman, educator

Rotate your toys

"Babies and toddlers usually play most happily with a few toys that are changed frequently. When a toy that has been put away for a short time reappears, it again captures the child's attention because it seems new and exciting."
--Dr. Thelma Harms, Director of Curriculum Development, Research Professor, UNC-CH School of Education

Read aloud

Read-aloud experts tell us that you should read to your children even after they know how to read on their own.....even until they go off to college! It sends them a message of love, that you've taken the time to stop your busy life to spend quality time with them. In addition, children are able to understand books several grade levels above their own reading level if a book is read to them.

Rachel Carson (1907-1964) American biologist:

"If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in."