Young children in Pierce County deserve the best that we can give them. Week of the Young Child, held April 19-25, is a time to recognize the needs of young children and thank the parents, teachers, child care providers and adults involved in their education and care.

We can show our support for early learning in our community by promoting early childhood development programs, thanking teachers who care for our children and working to ensure that our public policies support early learning for all young children. Federal, state and local government, communities, parents and the private sector must share in the responsibility of ensuring the well-being of children and families. We can and must do more to create opportunities that help all children and families succeed. We can invest now in our children and families and enjoy long-term savings, with a more vibrant nation of healthy, achieving children and more stable families, or we can fail to make the investment and pay the price: increased delinquency, greater education failures, lowered productivity, less economic competitiveness, and fewer adults prepared to be effective, loving parents to the next generation of children.

The Week of the Young Child is an opportunity for programs, organizations, communities and states to focus on the needs of young children and their families and to bring North Dakota together for children.

Dybing-Driessen is program director of Early Explorers Head Start and Early Headstart.