Thank you, Harriet Meyer, of the Ounce of Prevention Fund (Voice, March 16), for pointing out that the early relationship between parent and baby has a profound impact on a child’s psychological and neurological development, affecting a child’s readiness to succeed in school as well as in other areas of life. You call for new strategies that specifically address the emotional needs of babies, toddlers and young children and cite four approaches.
We would add a fifth: supporting the development and implementation of curricula that teach elementary and high school students not only about the developmental and emotional needs of children but also provide them with the skills they will need as parents to nurture emotional health in their children.
Doesn’t it make sense to take the time to prepare future parents well before they conceive a child? Meyer cites studies that show that the earliest relationship between parent and child is crucial to developing a sound emotional and intellectual foundation for the growing individual. Why should we narrow the number of parents prepared to provide sound emotional and intellectual foundations for their children to those lucky enough to have enlightened parents themselves or enlightened doctors who provide access to information? (What medical schools teach parenting to doctors anyway?)
Early enough, we might even be able to impart information that would help boys and girls decide to wait to parent until they are prepared to parent. One way this could be accomplished is by observing parents and infants in the classroom and learning from the real world the time, effort, money and love sound parenting takes. Let’s spread parenting information and skills to everyone in the next parenting generation by beginning to share knowledge of what infants and toddlers need when children reach school age.
For instance, children at St. Peter’s Elementary School in Skokie use an existing curriculum called Learning How to Care: Education for Parenting, available through the Caring/Parenting Project of Loyola University’s Center for Children, Families and Community. Once a month they interact with a local infant or toddler and their parent, who visits their classrooms to teach the skills of nurturing the growth and development of another. Similar programs exist around the country in New York, Texas, California and Pennsylvania.
For more information about legislation to teach parenting information and skills to children and about curricula already available, visit the Parenting Project Web site at www.parentingproject.org.
