It’s the Week of the Young Child, and that means celebrations across the nation and in Beaufort County this week.

The Week of the Young Child is an annual event started by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. It celebrates early learning, young children, their teachers and their families.

The Beaufort-Hyde Partnership for Children put together several activities to celebrate the annual event this week, with those activities ranging from hands-on projects to dressing up as book characters.

The Week of the Young Child parade and outdoor festival takes place Thursday in downtown Washington and at Festival Park. Parade registration and line up begins at 9:30 a.m. by the North Carolina Estuarium. The parade begins at 10 a.m. The festival features Pamlico Joe and Clean Water Flow with their environmental message and children’s activities such as storytelling, an obstacle course and free Kona ice treats from Jim and Bunny Pounds.

Lisa Woolard, executive director of the Beaufort-Hyde Partnership for Children, said early childhood education and parents’ involvement with their children’s education is a key factor in providing those children advantages as they enter formative years.

“One of the important reasons for early childhood education is the brain development that happens early. There’s a lot of brain research that shows that wires don’t connect if they are not stimulated to connect. … Everybody’s equipped to do everything, but it you don’t get certain synapses to connect then certain things don’t happen,” Woolard said. “We want to do a lot of brain stimulation at the early years, especially the parts of the lobe that have to do with success in school, those cognitive thinking skills and those self-regulation skills.”

Although knowledgeable teachers are important to early childhood education, there is another factor that’s just as important — the children’s families, Woolard noted. “It’s also making sure that children get their shots on time, that they are eating healthy. It all works together. Children that are sick and not in school are not learning,” she said. “It’s important for parents to be involved because they are their children’s first teachers. We want to help parents understand the importance of early education. Unfortunately, babies don’t come with the directions stamped on their butts.”

Woolard added, “You know what you know by what you learned at the house.”

“The purpose of the Week of the Young Child is to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs,” reads the NAEYC website. “NAEYC first established the Week of the Young Child in 1971, recognizing that the early childhood years (birth through age 8) lay the foundation for children’s success in school and later life. The Week of the Young Child is a time to plan how we — as citizens of a community, of a state and of a nation — will better meet the needs of all young children and their families.”

Teresa Smith, pre-kindergarten director for Beaufort County Schools, said early childhood education helps children transition into schools. “High-quality child care, whether it’s in the school system or otherwise, there’s a ton of research to show that it does help children with a lot of developmental areas,” Smith said. “It’s typically a language-rich environment, so it helps them increase their vocabulary. Children are exposed to at least the idea of some academics of numbers, letters and counting. They learn how to share. That classroom becomes their family. Most teachers call it that. They learn how to care for each other, as well as themselves.”

April is also Child Abuse Prevention Month. To help bring attention to the problem of child abuse, the Beaufort-Hyde Partnership for Children is sponsoring the Paint the Town Blue awareness project Thursday. The organization encourages people to wear blue to show support for efforts to reduce, if not eliminate, child abuse.