United Way of Santa Fe County

Comprehensive quality care pays off.

While the costs of comprehensive early childhood education are high, the rate of return of programs like ABC/CARE implies that these costs are good investments. Every dollar spent on high-quality, birth-to-five programs for disadvantaged children delivers a 13% per annum return on investment. These economically significant returns account for the welfare costs of taxation to finance the program and survive a battery of sensitivity analyses. The cost of high quality early care was $18,514 in 2014 U.S. dollars. The average cost of childcare alone in the United States ranges from $9,589 to a high of $23,354 with few assurances of the quality necessary to generate quality life outcomes for children.

The gains are significant because quality programs pay for themselves many times over. The cost of inaction is a tragic loss of human and economic potential that we cannot afford.

Edward Tabet-Cubero, Executive V.P. for Early Learning at Kaune & Early Childhood Policy

Edward Tabet-Cubero has over 20 years of experience in the education and nonprofit sectors, most recently serving as the Executive Director of the NM Center on Law and Poverty, which focuses on systemic change to improve the lives of vulnerable families. Previously, he served as Associate Director of Dual Language Education of New Mexico where he supported the development of high quality dual language education programs across the country. Edward has promoted educational equity for diverse learners, as a classroom teacher in the colonias of southern NM, award winning school administrator, dual language education consultant, non-profit administrator, and university instructor. In 2014, he was selected as a WKKF Community Leadership Network Fellow to improve outcomes for families in New Mexico, with a specific focus on bilingual PreK programming and policy.

Edward is a great addition to the United Way of Santa Fe County team and will lead the implementation of the vision for the United Way Early Learning Center at Kaune as well as co-direct the United Way’s policy branch, New Mexico Early Childhood Development Partnership, which is dedicated to creating the public awareness and political will for investment in early childhood education in New Mexico.

When adorable infants start walking and having opinions about their environment, parents must develop a new set of skills. It can be exhausting, embarrassing and annoying when toddlers lose their temper over things that don’t seem important.

Developmentally, toddlers are learning to communicate and express emotions. As parents, you develop patience and model the type of communication you’d like your child to learn. Here are some tips to managing these emotional outbursts with your children.

Observe:

• What was happening right before the tantrum?
• Are there patterns in the child’s tantrums?
• Are there certain situations that trigger them?

Learn: What might be causing the child’s loss of control?

• Frustration
• Unable to do something
• Not enough language to express his thoughts or feelings
• Irritability due to hunger or fatigue

Respond:

• Stay calm
• Stay close and keep your child safe
• Validate your child’s feelings: “You are having a hard time. Everyone needs a break sometimes.”
• Afterward tell him what a good job he did calming down.

You and your child will get through this stage! Remember to model for your child the behavior you’d like to see in him: kindness, patience, respect, and good communication.