Dr. Brazelton celebrated his 95^th birthday last month with the publication of his memoir, Learning to Listen: A Life Caring for Children, which follows both the roots of a brilliant career and the evolution of child-rearing into the twenty-first century.

Preview an excerpt from the book in The Atlantic (5/1/13): The Lasting Influence of Mother-Infant Attachment

Listen to an interview on NPR’s All Things Considered

Listen to an interview with Dr. Brazelton and Dr. Sparrow on WBUR’s Here and Now

Read selected reviews and interviews in:

USA TODAY (5/1/13)

New York Journal of Books (4/29/13)

The Boston Globe (5/11/13)

Please SAVE the DATES! Brazelton Touchpoints 17th National Forum, May 2-3, 2014

Marriott Courtyard Boston Downtown, 275 Tremont St., Boston, MA.  Call now to reserve your room at our special rate of $184+tax/night.  Mention Brazelton Touchpoints Forum when booking your reservation.  Call 617-426-1400.

Please continue to check back for more information.

From our friends at Early Education for all:

Earlier this year, President Obama announced an unprecedented proposal to make more than $75 billion in new funding available for early education, child care, Head Start, pre-kindergarten and home visiting over the next 10 years. The plan recognizes the need for high-quality programs and services for infants, toddlers and preschoolers and creates the opportunity for a state-federal partnership to provide these programs for children in Massachusetts.

The president’s plan is a bold step forward and could improve the opportunities for countless young children for years to come.

But it’s not going to happen if we don’t make ourselves heard.

Wednesday, June 5, will be a prime opportunity to for us to speak up in a unified voice on behalf of young children and families across the commonwealth and the country.

Make some noise. Get people talking. Tweet.  Post on Facebook. Keep the momentum going and take action!

Here are four things you can do this week:

1.  Send a message to Congress asking them to take action on new early learning investments.

2. TWEET! – Please join the National Women’s Law Center (@nwlc) and special guest tweeters for a tweetchat to discuss President Obama’s early learning initiative! on June 5 from 2 – 3 PM.  Use Hashtag: #PreKForAll, #prekplan.

3. FACEBOOK – Change your profile photo to a photo of a child or you as a child.  Then post about the importance of high-quality early education and support for President’s plan. Click here for talking points to use in posts.

4. Share this message with friends, family and colleagues and ask them to join you and take action.

We can do this!  For more information contact Emily Levine or visit the National Women’s Law Center Day of Action page.

Read a preview of the foreword by Dr. Brazelton and Dr. Sparrow. For more information about the book, For Our Babies: Ending the Invisible Neglect of America’s Infants, click here.

To learn more about WestEd’s For Our Babies initiative, visit ForOurBabies.org.

From our friends at the National Women’s Law Center:

Things are moving and they are moving fast!

In April, the Obama administration announced a new early learning initiative that will expand high-quality early learning opportunities for children ages birth to five.

This plan is definitely bold. $75 billion dollars bold to be exact. But now that the plan has been announced, it is our job to create a groundswell of support and move it forward.

But we can’t do this alone. Here is what we need you to do:

1. If you represent a national, state, or local organization, please sign on as a supporter of the Strong Start for Children – Building America’s Future campaign. A letter with all signers will be presented to the White House. The comprehensive campaign principles and link to join can be found here.
2. If you haven’t done so already, please take a second to thank President Obama for his new early learning initiative. Each and every thank you note will be delivered to the White House in the second week of May.
3. Please save the date and start planning for the Early Learning Day of Action on June 5. On this day, organizations across the country will host events in support of President Obama’s Early Learning initiative. The goal is to generate as many press worthy and attention-getting events as possible. As you move forward with your planning, please note that these events can and should take many forms — member visits to child care centers and preschool programs, press conferences, rallies and other events with allies such as the business community, education community, etc. If you can organize a local event, please email the details to strongstartforchildren@gmail.com.

Thanks for everything you do. I look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

Helen Blank
Director of Child Care and Early Learning
National Women’s Law Center

Michael Petit
President
Every Child Matters Education Fund

Dear friends and colleagues,

Many thanks and much appreciation to our Brazelton Touchpoints communities for all of your thoughts and warm wishes for our safety and care for our heavy hearts.

Here in Boston, our Brazelton Touchpoints Center staff and their families and friends are all safe and physically unharmed, but it has touched us all very profoundly — from family members and friends who were running, to spectators who were at the finish line, or to first responders who have been working around the clock. We are heartsick for the children whose families have been hurt or lost and for the families whose children were harmed. We are proud of our colleagues at Boston Children’s Hospital who were on the front lines and are continuing to care for the children and families who were admitted yesterday.
In fellowship, peace and renewed commitment to our work together — one child, one family, one community at a time.

Terry Ann Lunt,
Executive Director
Brazelton Touchpoints Center

A message from Michael Petit, President, Every Child Matters Education Fund:

Despite the high stakes, yet another day has gone by and Congress is still set to allow a series of automatic budget cuts starting on Friday that punishes millions of children. Congress continues to fail in its job to reach agreement on responsible deficit reduction.

These cuts, among many, will occur unless Congress acts:

• Taking nutrition aid from 600,000 pregnant women and infants
• Revoking rental housing assistance from 125,000 low income families
• Booting 70,000 three and four year olds from the Head Start early education program
• Denying child care assistance to 30,000 children
• Ending services to 1,200,000 low income students in Kindergarten through 12th grade
• Canceling treatment for mental illness for 373,000 adults and children

These cuts will cost Americans 700,000 jobs, placing greater strains on families. These cuts don’t have to happen. We need you to get involved right now. Call your member of Congress and tell them to stop these mindless cuts. These cuts are bad for children, bad for families, and bad for America. There is no economic and policy rationale for making them and they must be stopped.

Michael Petit, President, Every Child Matters Education Fund

On February 15, President Obama awarded Dr. Brazelton the Presidential Citizens Medal, the nation’s second-highest civilian honor.

Greetings came in from all over the world congratulating Dr. Brazelton, who will turn 95 this spring, and recognizing the impact of his life’s work and his continuing commitment to children, families and entire communities through the work of the Brazelton Touchpoints Center.

“Promoting healthy development starts at a child’s earliest moments, and Dr.Brazelton has tirelessly advocated for the need to invest in vulnerable children as early as possible, in order to ensure success throughout pre-school, kindergarten, and beyond,” said Susan Buffett, visionary and philanthropic leader in the field of early childhood, both in Nebraska and nationwide, and founder of the Sherwood Foundation and Buffett Early Childhood Fund. “Under his lead, we’ve made ground-breaking strides toward optimizing children’s healthy development from day one, when a child’s learning begins.”

Dr. Brazelton’s work reflects a critical focus of President Obama’s agenda in the second-term. The President highlighted in his State of the Union Address last week the importance of promoting children’s early learning and guaranteeing high-quality preschool programs for all children, despite family income.

A message from Michael Petit, President, Every Child Matters Education Fund:

Did you know that In 2010, the EITC lifted about 6.3 million people out of poverty, including about 3.3 million children? The poverty rate among children would have been nearly one-quarter higher without the EITC. The EITC lifts more children out of poverty than any other program.

According to the IRS, “…workers eligible for EITC, Earned Income Tax Credit, can receive up to $5,891 by claiming the credit on their 2012 Federal tax returns. They can receive even more if they live in a state with a similar credit.”

The EITC reduces poverty by supplementing the earnings of workers with low wages and low earnings. There has been broad bipartisan agreement that a two-parent family with two children with a full-time, minimum-wage worker should not have to raise its children in poverty. At the federal minimum wage’s current level, such a family can move above the poverty line for an average family of four only if it receives the EITC as well as SNAP (food stamp) benefits.

The IRS wants those eligible to get their “Earned Income Tax Credit” (EITC) and is urging communities to spread the word. In addition to lifting families out of poverty, the EITC is good for our local economies.

For young children, moving out of poverty is particularly important. Research has found that lifting income in early childhood not only tends to improve a child’s immediate educational outcomes, but also is associated with more schooling, more hours worked, and higher earnings in adulthood. One such study showed a link between an increase in the EITC for families with more than two children and an increase in achievement in middle childhood for children in these families.