High-quality pre-K has lifelong health impact [Philly.com]

Do you remember your child's first teacher? Your first teacher? The most influential teacher in your life? I'm sure most of us can.

Mayor Kenney's proposal to tax sugary beverages and use much of the proceeds for prekindergarten has been making headlines lately. But this is a topic with implications well beyond education and politics. Early childhood education is a key contributor to lifelong health and a potent means to fight the health disparities that plague our city.

In the first few years of a child's life, in every second there are 700 new brain cell connections being formed. Early life experiences help ensure that each child's brain is ready to learn, to make good decisions, to show empathy and feel love.

A newborn's brain weighs, on average, 333 grams, or a little less than 12 ounces. By age 2, it has tripled in size. Ninety percent of brain development occurs before age 5. For a child who lacks appropriate stimulation or suffers chronic traumatic stress in those early years that isn't properly addressed, the consequences can be permanent.

[For more of this story, written by Daniel R. Taylor, go to http://www.philly.com/philly/h...#uL4ZKpyhxxrbypLc.99]