Check out these excerpts from our Parents Resource Guide. The information in the guide is geared to parents of children 0-5 years old. 

Getting Your Child Ready for School

Ten Tips for Raising Happier, Healthier Children

Help Your Child Develop in These Areas

Check our Calendar of Events for family events coming up in Chatham County over the next few months.
 

For more parenting resources and links, visit NC Smart Start's Family Resource pages

Getting Your Child Ready for School

• Children must be 5 years old on or before October 16 of the year they enter school.  (School begins in mid-August.) 
• Kindergarten pre-registration is held at each school in March and April. 
• If you miss pre-registration, then you must contact your child’s school as soon as possible prior to school opening in August. 
• To determine your child’s school assignment, call a nearby school or the School Administration Office.

Registration Requirements 

Proof of Residence  - Property deed, rental lease agreement, or utility bill.  A driver’s license is not acceptable. 

Official Birth Certificate with Seal  - Obtain from the county or state Health Department in the area where the child was born, or the Office of Vital Records at 1903 MSC, Raleigh, NC  27699.  Attach $10.00 check or money order for NC Vital Records.  Children born out of this country may use a passport. 

Health Assessment Form  - The law requires a physical examination, no earlier than 12 months prior to the date of school entry, before a child can enter kindergarten.  The Kindergarten Health Assessment Form (PPS-2K, revised 12/99) are available from the public schools, county Human Services Department, and area doctors’ offices.  A physical exam and/or immunizations may be obtained at the county Health Department. 

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Ten Tips for Raising Happier Healthier Children

 What you do in the first three years of your baby’s life directly impacts the adult your child will become.  New breakthrough research tells us that the first three years of a child’s life are more important for emotional and intellectual growth than we ever thought before.  Experiences that fill babies’ first days, months and years have a decisive impact on the structure of a child’s brain, and in turn, on every aspect of a child’s life throughout adulthood.

So remember, when you cuddle, coo and sing lullaby to your baby, you are not just expressing love, you are providing vital nourishment for his or her healthy development.

  Quite simply, the first years last forever!

• Be warm, loving and responsive.  When children receive warm, responsive care, they are more likely to feel safe and secure with the adults who take care of them.
• Respond to your child’s cues.  Recognize and respond to the sounds, movements and expressions that your child makes.  This will help you build secure attachments.
• Talk, sing, and read to your child.  All of these interactions help your child’s brain make the connections it needs for growth and later learning.
• Establish rituals and routines.  Teach your child to know when its time for bed by developing routines such as singing a song and pulling the curtains – daily routines and rituals associated with pleasurable feelings are reassuring for children.
• Encourage safe exploration and play.  As infants grow, they begin to explore the world beyond their caregivers.  Parents should encourage this exploration.  While many of us think of learning as simply acquiring facts, children actually learn through playing.
• Make television watching selective.  Watch television with your child, and talk about what you are viewing.  Don’t use TV as a baby-sitter.
• Use discipline as an opportunity to teach.  In addition to consistent and loving adult supervision, teach your child limits.  Never hit or shake a child.
• Recognize that each child is unique.  Children grow at different rates.  Their ideas and feelings about themselves reflect, in large measure, parents’ and caregivers’ attitude towards them.
• Choose quality child care and stay involved.  Frequently visit your child care provider and seek someone who responds warmly and responsively to your baby’s needs.
• Take care of yourself.  Parents need care too.  When you are exhausted, irritable, depressed or overwhelmed, you may have a harder time meeting the needs of young children.

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Help Your Child Develop in These Areas

Chatham County Partnership for Children •  200 Sanford Hwy, Pittsboro, NC 27312 • 919.542.7449