Health and Safety

What are ACES and how do they relate to toxic stress?

The term “ACEs” is an acronym for Adverse Childhood Experiences. ACEs research shows the correlation between early adversity and poor outcomes later in life. Toxic stress explains how ACEs can trigger biological reactions that lead to those outcomes. The Harvard Centre on the Developing Child has developed a simple infographic that explains...

Do you have plants in your program?

About Kids Health has put together an overview of plant safety and and a helpful list of poisonous plants to avoid.

Refrigerate Right – Tips for Storing Food Safely

Did you know that it’s important to cover and place the food in a way that helps to keep it from getting cross-contaminated with drippings or juices from other foods when you store food in a refrigerator? Here's how...

Five Wellness Lessons From A Toddler

In the wake of World Mental Health day, the amount of stress in our modern day lives is obvious. And while stress itself is not considered a mental health problem, it often leads to depression and anxiety, which are the most common mental health issues. Yet there’s a natural source of inspiration – and even stress relief – in our lives that we may just have overlooked. The average toddler expresses qualities we have long since abandoned due to overwhelming ‘busy’-ness. Here’s five things that come naturally to toddlers that we can use to improve our general well-being!  

Kids’ Health Information for Parents in Different Languages!

To reach optimal physical health and mental well-being, children need to: get enough sleep; make healthy food and drink choices; be more active; and limit the time they spend in front of screens. Kids' Health pamphlets are available in 22 languages to help parents and caregivers.

Menu Planning Resources

These child care nutrition resources were created by the Ontario Dieticians in Public Health (OCPC) to support child care providers in planning and preparing healthy food for the children in their care. They include a Practical Guide with information on menu planning, food and beverages that should be served, appropriate portion sizes for different age groups, sample menus and templates as well as strategies to create a supportive nutrition environment.

Webinar -Trauma Informed Care in ECE: Key Strategies for Healing and Behavioural Change

Children with a history of trauma often “act out” their distress through behaviours that are challenging for adults to understand. This webinar focuses on understanding the message of challenging behavior and strategies to help children heal.

Tips for Arranging Child Care Spaces

We know that the environment can have a direct impact on behaviour and the flow of your program. Do you ever wonder about changing around your child care space? Here are some helpful tips for preschool, infant and toddler spaces.

Supporting Children’s Safety through Professional Supervision

Why is supervision so challenging? Professional supervision of children is a dynamic and multi-faceted process. It involves knowledge, skills, practices, communication with others and the need to identify and respond to high risk situations. This article and video how transition periods, lack of or poor communications and unattended hazards in the physical environment can increase the risk of children wandering away, being left behind or being injured while in your care.

Safe Kids Worldwide

Safe Kids Worldwide is a global organization dedicated to protecting kids from unintentional injuries. When we talk about preventing injuries, we’re not talking about skinned knees, bruised shins and scraped elbows. Those are the telltale signs of a curious child, exploring the world, pushing limits and seeking adventure. But there are things we can all do to ensure that those bumps and bruises don’t turn into more disabling injuries and deaths. Safe Kids Worldwide has lots of safety checklists, videos, resources and reports here to support your work with families.