Finding Your Way Through the Resource Maze

The Parents’ Resource page starts with two sentences that are similar to these:

The good news – there are so many resources, both local and online, for early childhood professionals! The bad news – there are so many resources that it can be overwhelming to find the time to review them and choose what meets your needs.

Our first suggestion to you is also similar to the one we made for parents: our community has a wealth of resources – courses, trainings, and most importantly, relationships with other professionals through mentoring, coaching, and supervision – start with those. Getting information, guidance, advice, and resources from an early childhood professional who knows you, knows your center, and knows our community’s strengths and needs is going to be most helpful in the long run.

Here’s a brief summary about how this information is organized.

The resources shared by presenters at the Fort Lewis Southwest Early Childhood Conference are available on the conference page.

The Early Learning and Development page has resources about child development, play, early literacy, language development, etc.

The Social-Emotional and Behavioral Wellness page provides local resources to encourage social-emotional and mental health, as well as online resources about these topics.

The Health and Safety page features MECC’s programs that promote health and wellness, as well as articles and videos on health and safety for early childhood professionals.

The Partnering with Families page has resources on cultural understanding and communication.

On the Children with Special Needs page you’ll find local and online resources to help you welcome children with differing abilities into your center, child care home, and your heart.

Tips and Tools is just as it sounds: a hodge-podge of ideas for those times when the best laid plan falls apart (or never got done).

The Self-Care page has valuable resources, advice, and suggestions to help you find work-life balance, reduce adultitis, manage stress, etc. to make sure you get the most satisfaction from your job. We don’t want you to burnout – we want to help you thrive!

And last, but certainly not least, the Professionalism and Ethics page has resources to help you be the best early childhood professional you can be.