EARLY CHILDHOOD ED EVEN MORE CRITICAL

The importance of early childhood education was one of the first messages Chattanooga 2.0 pushed out and began to work on after its establishment in late 2015.

Since that time, the education initiative and its collaborators have attempted to apprise area residents of the necessity of giving their children the tools they need by the time they start kindergarten. For many of those residents, the use of early childhood learning centers is involved. The quality of those centers, what they teach and how available they are also have been areas in which the initiative has worked.

In a forum on Wednesday, Chattanooga 2.0 and its collaborators linked the importance of early childhood education with the scourge of opioid addiction.

To some, on the surface, the link may be nebulous; to others, it is glaring.

If a child’s parent or parents are dealing with opioid addiction, several things are certain. That child is not getting all of the care, training and support it should at home and won’t as long as the addiction continues. Thus, the chances of the child starting kindergarten without what he or she needs is increased.

However, a quality child care program can help fill some of those gaps for the child and, with collaboration, can link the parent or parents to agencies where they might receive help for their addiction.

Tennessee, unfortunately, is more caught up in the problem than most states. In 2016, it had the nation’s third highest rate of prescribing opioids and a death rate from opioids a third higher than the national average.

“Caring for Young Victims of the Opioid Crisis,” a report Chattanooga 2.0 and its collaborators presented, noted that “having a parent who abuses substances can induce toxic stress [in children], which impairs brain development. Moreover, the effects of this early adversity reach far into adulthood, impacting health and well-being throughout life.”

We do not back the concept of universal pre-kindergarten, but we believe having enough quality early childhood learning centers for those parents who need them and whose children would benefit from them is vital. Fortunately, the federal government through its Head Start Centers, the city of Chattanooga, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and various churches, among other entities, have seen the wisdom of offering such centers. More are needed.

The report says that such “programs promote several aspects of healthy child development, help kids do better in school, get along with others and avoid behavior problems.” Further, it says “by working with parents … those programs [and their various collaborators] can improve parenting skills and assist parents in providing more stable nurturing environments for their children.”

Until the scourge of opioid prescription addiction (and its attendant problems) wanes, early childhood education is even more important than it would be otherwise.