The Well-Being of Canada's Young Children - Government of Canada Report 2008
Chapter 1 — Introduction
The Importance of Monitoring Child Well-Being
Research indicates that a good start in the early years of life is critical for long-term health and well-being because of the development and learning that occurs during this period. What happens in early childhood has long term implications for the individual and for society as adults are “constructed” in childhood. Negative experiences in the early years may have long-lasting effects that are not easily overcome later in life.
Experts and decision makers agree that it is important to monitor children's well-being and development to help build awareness and understanding of how young children in Canada are developing during their earliest years and the role that families, communities and public services play in contributing to this development. Ongoing monitoring may also help to identify areas where children and their families may need more or better integrated support so as to optimize child development in the early years. This well-being can be assessed by looking at several factors, such as overall health and safety, and motor, social and cognitive development as well as the environments in which these children are growing up. “Healthy children emerge most often from healthy families, and healthy families are in turn promoted by healthy communities.” 2 Parents, relatives and caregivers are a primary support for children and have a major role in supporting and shaping their development. This is particularly important in a child's formative years, during which most of their foundational development occurs. In turn, families are often shaped by the communities in which they live. Whether based on geography, ethnicity or interests (e.g., religious groups, parent groups), communities provide a foundation for family life that can have a profound effect on the well-being of children.
The Early Childhood Development Agreement — Reporting on Young Children's Well-Being
The September 2000 Early Childhood Development Agreement, as agreed to by First Ministers,3 commits governments to report regularly on indicators of young children's well-being. In response, federal/provincial/territorial (F/P/T) governments identified a common set of indicators that provide information on the physical health and early development of young children in Canada. While incorporating data from multiple sources, this common set of indicators is based primarily on data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY), a biennial survey designed to broaden our knowledge of children in Canada, and in particular young children. To correspond with the availability of data, participating governments 4 agreed to release a report on young children's well-being for their jurisdiction biennially. Release of these reports by all participating governments will mark the fourth time that governments are reporting to the public on a set of jointly agreed indicators of young children's well-being.
| Physical Health and Motor Development |
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| Emotional Health |
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| Social Knowledge and Competence |
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| Cognitive Learning & Language Communication |
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The Government of Canada's Fourth Report on Young Children's Well-Being
This is the Government of Canada's fourth report to Canadians on young children's well-being. This report provides a factual discussion of the common set of indicators of young children's well-being identified by F/P/T governments, supplemented by additional indicators of children's physical health, as well as measures of key family and community influences on child well-being.
Given the commitment to continuously improve the quality of reporting over time, additional indicators beyond those presented in the first three Government of Canada reports have been added so as to provide a more comprehensive picture of child well-being. In an effort to improve monitoring and comparability between jurisdictions, this report presents information on the means and confidence intervals for the core set of developmental indicators. This additional information will help further our understanding of the development of young children in Canada.
While retaining its integrity as a monitoring report, this fourth edition begins to examine possible relationships between the indicators presented, focusing primarily on the interaction between family determinants and child development. Despite this cursory examination, additional research is required to determine the factors that may influence the movement of the indicators presented.
For the first time, this report presents information from the NLSCY on young children with disabilities and their families, in an effort to expand the knowledge on this specific group of children.
A technical annex describes the measures used to develop the indicators presented.
- 2 Ross, D. P., K. Scott and M. A. Kelly (1996). “Overview: Children in Canada in the 1990s.” In Growing Up in Canada — National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth. Ottawa: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and Statistics Canada. Click to return to reference
- 3 While the Government of Quebec supports the general principles of the Early Childhood Development Agreement, it did not participate in developing this initiative because it intends to preserve its sole responsibility on social matters. However, Quebec receives its share of federal funding and the Government of Quebec is making major investments in programs and services for families and children. Click to return to reference
- 4 The NLSCY currently collects data only for children living in the provinces. As a result of the lack of comparable data the Territories are not required to release reports on young children's well-being but can choose to report on available indicators, if desired. Click to return to reference