Answer:
Writing a letter to the editor or an opinion editorial (op-ed) can be a useful way to share your knowledge about infant-toddler issues with the local community and policymakers. In addition, letters to the editor and op-eds are a way of reaching a much wider audience with your messages about the healthy development of infants and toddlers and how policy can positively impact babies, toddlers and their families.
Step-by-step explanation:
Writing opinion pieces are fairly simple and an effective way for you to Be a Voice for Little Kids in your community! This ZERO TO THREE Policy Network advocacy tool provides you with some suggestions for writing letters to the editor and op-eds and getting them printed. Download the full article for more details about these strategies and a few examples of opinion pieces that were published, so you can get a sense for how to put the strategies into practice
Check the newspaper’s print guidelines
Most newspapers have a web site. Check the paper’s web site or the editorial page of the print version for information about submitting a letter to the editor. Some newspapers have an online submission form which you can use.
Keep it brief and to the point
Letters should be concise – typically newspapers have a word limit of about 250 words (about 3 paragraphs). Editors are less likely to print long letters.
Make your letter timely
Tie the subject of your letter to a recent article, editorial or column. Use that article as a hook for communicating your message. Small-circulation newspapers usually print many of the letters they receive. It is more challenging to get a letter printed in a major metropolitan newspaper, so don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t get printed.
Localize your letter
Explain how infants and toddlers in your community will be affected. Lend credibility to your letter by noting your professional experiences in the community that prompted you to write on this topic.
Use “levels of thought” as a method for organizing your letter
The FrameWorks Institute, a non-profit communications research organization, “adopts the position… that people reason on the basis of deeply-held moral values…” Those moral values are part of a hierarchical process for how people think about ideas and issues, which they refer to as “levels of thought.” You can use levels of thought to structure your letter to the editor. Begin your letter with a big idea or value (level one) that provides a context for understanding the more specific details (levels two and three) of your communication.
For example, The Early Head Start program has made it a priority to provide the best start in life for all its babies and toddlers, so that their children will grow up to be good citizens of the community. The Early Head Start program offers an array of services to pregnant women, infants, toddlers and their families, including home visitation, parent support, early learning and access to medical, mental health and early intervention services. But this community program cannot succeed without adequate federal support for Early Head Start. Reauthorization of Early Head Start is right around the corner. It’s time to remind our federal policymakers that babies in Fillmont, Indiana and across the country depend on them.
Be mindful of the tone of your letter
The tone of your letter can either support or overpower the substance of the message you are trying to communicate. Therefore, choosing and controlling tone2 is an important element of your communication.