Carol Steely, who has cared for children in her home for nearly 20 years, has used the Better Kid Care program's printed materials since they first became available and now uses them in training seminars that she conducts for Lehigh Valley agencies. "The Better Kid Care materials provide down-to-earth, easy-to-read, common-sense information," she says. "Because they're free, providers can add them to their programs or give them to parents at no cost."

Family Time Work Time, a newsletter for parents, contains practical tips ranging from "Ways to Prevent Misbehavior" to "How to Choose and Use Sun Screen" and "Fire Safety." 101+ Ways to Keep Kids Busy advocates the conventional ("Start a Collection," "Play Dough," "Dress-up"), the highly imaginative ("Pretend You Are Popcorn"), and the somewhat idealistic ("Let's Clean House"). Other materials include an introductory kit of resources for new participants, the "Learn-At-Home" videotape series (with a 3,000-person annual enrollment), introductory and instructional videotapes for potential home-based caregivers and new child care center staff, and a toll-free caregiver help line staffed by professional educators.

Front to back: Technical director Tom Cherry, producer Chris Fagan, and on-air graphics operator Steve Williams direct activities from the studio control room during a recent Better Kid Care satellite broadcast.

Many of these materials were developed at the request of trainees and family living agents. "All of our workshops and materials include participant evaluation, and we take those comments seriously," says Horning. "Also, when our advisory committee is developing a satellite workshop series for a new year, we begin by reviewing all of the comments from the previous year's series. The program comes from the people."

It's likely that no component of the Better Kid Care program reaches more people than the satellite-based training workshops. Now in its fifth year, the series has broadcast 37 episodes featuring a blend of live studio commentary, prerecorded video segments, and call-in question-and-answer sessions. The programs are delivered from University Park via satellite to child care training sessions across the country, and topics run the gamut from using art materials to teaching children to read. Each episode addresses an issue relevant to caregivers and offers practical tips and suggestions. The program on "Learning to Read Before Six," for example, stresses the importance of reading to children, but also encourages caregivers to write down children's narrated stories and use classroom mailboxes for letter exchanges.

One estimate for the 1998-99 season put the number of caregivers reached at over 50,000. "I just talked to a county home economist in Harper County, Kansas, who wants to downlink our programs and use them in her training," says Van Horn. "Yesterday I spoke with interested extension agents in Florida and Georgia." The American Distance Education Association (ADEC), whose membership includes about 60 land-grant universities, awarded the Better Kid Care program one of its three 1999 Outstanding Educational Program awards.

Family living agent Rebecca Escott coordinates the efforts of several agencies to provide training for early childhood professionals in the Lehigh Valley.

Episodes are developed through an intensive planning process that begins when a statewide advisory committee meets to determine the uplink topics. Van Horn then works closely with video producer Chris Fagan to script each episode. Shooting and video editing take place months in advance, and a recent August morning found Van Horn and Fagan in center-city Philadelphia at the Children's Village Child Care Center gathering footage for a fall segment on parental involvement in child care. As Fagan familiarized and fascinated the children with his videocamera and wandered among them recording footage, Van Horn chatted with the center's director, Mary Graham.

The scene that surrounded them was timeless. Although the gritty streets of Philadelphia lay outside the center's doors, they just as easily could have been the rural roads of Cameron, Elk, or Potter County. Children played together at various activity stations while caregivers mitigated disputes and led them in group singing, finger painting, and story reading. One young boy perched himself on a stool and nervously lifted a Dr. Seuss book to his lap while his friends gathered at his feet. He propped the book open so everyone could see the pictures and began to read to the group, following along with his finger under the words. The children fell silent, imagining. Could kid care get any better than this?

The Best Kid Care
According to a recent Better Kid Care press release, parents should look for the following when choosing a child care program:

• enough adults to supervise the children
• daily activities that are appropriate for the ages of the children
• staff who attend child care training workshops, including first aid and CPR training
• a policy that welcomes parents to visit at any time, unannounced
• clean, bright rooms with large areas for active play
• chances for parents to talk with the caregiver about their child each day
• handwashing routines before handling food and after diapering and toileting
• well-balanced, nutritious meals and snacks
• a safe outdoor play area
• play equipment and toys in good repair
• storage areas for books and toys where children can reach them
• cleaning supplies, poisonous materials, and guns and ammunition stored in locked cabinets
• a first-aid kit and emergency numbers posted near the telephone
• a functioning smoke detector on each level where child care takes place

For more information about the Better Kid Care Program, call (800) 452-9108
or visit the program's Web site at http://betterkidcare.psu.edu/