National Week of the Young Child started Sunday, and the Butler County Early Care & Education Council is planning events throughout the week to bring interactive education to children.

Established in 1971, the Week of the Young Child promotes the needs of young children, their families and the early childhood programs that serve them.

The theme of this year’s celebration is Exploring Our Colorful Feelings, and is designed to promote social and emotional health, said Julie Thumma, coordinator with the council.

“Children’s social-emotional health has always been an important focus for our collaboration, but the impact of the pandemic has made it an increased priority,” Thumma explained.

The early childhood years, birth through age 8, lay the foundation for a child’s success in school and later life. Their personalities are developed in the formative years, and they absorb what’s around them like a sponge.The early years shape their learning and development.

It’s a common misperception that early childhood education is only about learning basic skills, but it’s much more than that. It’s a time when children learn critical social and emotional skills and a partnership is formed between the child, their parents and their teachers. When done successfully, it lays the groundwork for it to continue throughout the child’s education.

This week, families can pick up free “exploring feelings” activity bags at Butler County libraries. The bags include the book “I’m Happy-Sad Today,” which discusses emotions for young children.

Thumma said 500 bags were sent to all libraries in the county. The book talks all about how you can have different emotions, or more than one emotion at the same time, and has a section for parents detailing how they can support their children in exploring feelings and finding healthy ways to talk about them.

Moving forward to future celebrations of the Week of the Young Child, Tiffany Harkleroad, youth services librarian at Butler Area Public Library, said the library still is evaluating what balance of virtual and in-person activities to include.

As parents, children's opportunities are our responsibilities. We must ensure that each and every child experiences the type of early environment — at home, at child care, at school, and in the community — that will promote their early learning.

Taking care of and teaching young children is a full-time effort which should be a year-round priority for parents, not just during one week in April.

— JGG