Let’s play a quick game.  I say “CACFP Federal Regulations” and then you think “____________.”  Did that blank space involve an eye-roll and maybe even a “#&$%?”  I think if you participate in the food program at some point the mere mention of “regulations” will bring about a flurry of a heartbeat and a negative thought.   I have a question for you though, did you know that you have a say in those final rules that you ultimately have to follow?  Well, you do!  Once a rule/regulation has been proposed there is a period of time in which public comment is encouraged and accepted

Grab your cowboy boots and hats, The Sponsor Association's (TSA) Conference is taking place in Austin, Texas in 2012!  To be exact, SAVE THE DATE for September 20-22, 2012.

ConAgra Foods Foundation Community Impact Grants Program (CIG) intends to partner with “high quality organizations to close service gaps and increase children’s access to food and nutrition resources so they can live happy, healthful lives” (CIG Overview and 2012 Eligibility Guidelines). 

What are the grant awards? They’ll range from $10,000 to $75,000.  Average grant size will be around $25,000.

Child care providers – find some great activities, ideas for lessons, ideas for food and resources in general.

Not-for-profits – find people reading relevant books or posting  information about being non-profits and get the word out there about what you are up to.

In my work with childcare directors, supervisors, coaches and teachers, I find that many people are feeling overwhelmed, “can’t get it all done”.  Many of us are feeling stressed from difficult interactions with adults and children.  I’ve developed a program for transforming stress to create more ease in your day’s work.  I want to share with you a short video I made about what I call Becoming Response-Abled.  In the video I’ll introduce a menu of choices for making positive, intentional responses.  Take a peek!     

Click here to view the video.

Over the next weeks, I’ll share more videos with you from the Transforming Stress program.  What are the kinds of stressful situations you experience?  What helps you respond positively and intentionally?  I’d love to hear your comments.

These days people throw around the term without thinking twice.  I blogged this, she is a habitual blogger, I read on this blog....But like many other things and terms we use, we aren't exactly what defines a blog and why it might be important to you or useful to you, to either read a blog or to create one yourself.  Check out this posting for some quick information you'll find useful.

St. Judes Children's Research Hospital is a hospital that treats all children that have cancer and other "catastrophic diseases."  They never turn a child away for financial reasons and are officially launching their 7th annual Thanks and Giving Campaign.  This campaign is to "Give thanks for the healthy kids in your life, and give to those who are not."

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is the agency that protects us, as consumers, from risks of death or injury from products, including children's toys, cribs, car seats and more.  This post is to let you know where to get the information they are giving you.  Did you know they have a YouTube station, a twitter feed, an app for your iPhone or droid?  You didn't?  Well look at this!

The Food Action and Research Center (FRAC) is  the "leading national nonprofit organization working to improve public policies and public-private partnerships to eradicate hunger and under nutrition in the United States."  FRAC is promoting a many ways to contact your legislation including a creative one you can do with the kids, called the Paper Plate campaign.

A short synopsis on a longer excerpt about a new proposal for the administration of Head Start and federal pre-K programs.

A short synopsis of the Grab and Go lesson provided by CARE Connection about the CACFP Meal Patterns

These CARE Connection lessons, created by the National Food Service Management Institute, are quickie tutorials to give some easy takeaway information regarding child nutrition.  One of these is about Fruit and Vegetable Nutrition and how to vary them with the children in your care.  My favorite part of it is the idea to serve different colors at different meals during the day.  This enables you to serve the variety of Vitamin A and C via vegetables and fruit while keeping it interesting for the children!  Some examples are: Yellow:  Bananas, Apples and Fruit Cocktail Orange: Apricots, Cantaloupe, and Carrots Red: Apples and Pink Grapefruit White: Applesauce, Jicama and Onions Blue/Purple:  Blueberries and Dried Cranberries Green: Apples, Brocoli, Celery You can find the chart and the rest of the lesson which gives a thorough breakdown of what kinds of Vegetables and Fruits contain Vitamin A or Vitamin C Here or on...