by Jackie Mader, The Hechinger Report
November 27, 2025
When my oldest little one was a 2-year-old, we relocated to a brand new state and I discovered myself again at sq. one with my seek for little one care. In my new metropolis, I now had an excellent drawback: There was an abundance of packages with availability, and I had a alternative of the place to enroll my son. As I toured a half-dozen of them, nonetheless, I nervous that at the same time as an early childhood reporter, I wasn’t asking the appropriate questions or listening to the appropriate factor.
Just a few months later, our early childhood group at Hechinger launched a mission digging into the weather of a high-quality preschool. That article and the corresponding video grew to become a fast and simple information as I checked out choices for my second little one. It’s what I despatched to buddies who requested me for recommendation whereas navigating their very own searches.
Whereas I really like telling tales from the sphere, my colleagues and I are additionally keen about offering useful instruments and guides for lecturers and caregivers. Listed here are a number of of my favourite early ed “cheat sheets” from our decade of reporting on early childhood.
1. The 5 parts of preschool: What do you have to search for whenever you step inside a preschool classroom? What clues can you discover on the partitions or bookshelves? What questions do you have to ask lecturers and college directors? This video and article break it down. Whereas lecture rooms and packages will fluctuate by setting, many of those parts, like the way in which lecturers speak to youngsters and an emphasis on play, apply in all places.
2. Cracking down on unsafe sleep merchandise: As an anxious new father or mother, nothing scared me greater than listening to about toddler deaths as a consequence of unsafe sleep merchandise. Nonetheless, when determined and exhausted, I attempted a number of gadgets that I heard would assist my infants sleep, together with some that the American Academy of Pediatrics later discouraged in up to date secure sleep tips in 2022. Whereas reporting this text, I used to be shocked by the shortage of proof and oversight of merchandise that many dad and mom like myself imagine are examined earlier than they’re that can be purchased.
3. How you can enhance math abilities by speaking about math along with your children: Most dad and mom know the way essential it’s to learn to youngsters. However do you know that there are straightforward methods caregivers can develop math abilities? Earlier this yr, my colleague Jill Barshay checked out a wave of analysis from the previous dozen years on easy issues adults can do to put an early basis in math.
4. How you can reply robust questions on race and racism along with your youngsters: Analysis reveals racial stereotypes begin early, and that’s why it’s essential to speak to younger youngsters about completely different races and browse books and provide toys which have numerous characters. Many dad and mom really feel in poor health geared up for these conversations, nonetheless. In 2020, I requested three specialists how they might reply to actual questions from younger children about race and racism so adults really feel higher ready for the questions that youngsters inevitably ask.
5. How dad and mom can help their children with play: With all of the challenges of being a father or mother, it may be onerous to listen to there’s one more factor we must be doing. However this 2023 dialog with researcher Charlotte Anne Wright helped me reframe the way in which I take into consideration play and my position in it with my very own youngsters. Whereas it’s essential to present youngsters alternatives without cost play, Wright’s analysis reveals “guided play,” or play with a studying objective in thoughts and light-weight help from a father or mother, can have advantages for kids, too. It’s not as heavy of a carry because it sounds, and Wright gives easy methods dad and mom can interact in playful studying with their youngsters on bus rides and journeys to the laundromat.
This story about preschoolers was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, impartial information group targeted on inequality and innovation in training. Join the Hechinger e-newsletter.
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