Valley Star

Issue date: 3/16/05 Section: News

Media Credit: Cynthia Perry/ Special to the Star HAVE A BALL - Kylie Gagnon tries to juggle too many balls at once at the weekly Baby ´n Me meeting.

Coos and laughter echo down the halls of Valley College's Math/Science building every Friday. The child development department's "Parent and Baby" program brings parents, infants and student-interns together to give parents an opportunity to compare their children's progress, while also giving child development students hands-on experience.

"This program gives not only student-parents, but outside parents the opportunity to socialize, trade tips and talk to other parents," said program director Marni Roosevelt.

The program, which welcomes parents with babies up to 18 months old, is new to Valley this semester, and Roosevelt hopes to expand the program to a second class encompassing toddlers.

"Parent and Baby" teaches participants how to be moms, according to Roosevelt. "It's not like you have a baby and know exactly how to do everything."

While Valley's Child Development Center also offers child care, Roosevelt says "Parent and Baby" differs from the Center in two ways: "This program is outfitted for babies while [the Center] starts with preschool age. Also, here the parents stay with the children and interact with the other children."

The program includes four student-interns.

"The hands-on experience is invaluable," said student-intern Shevonne Durkin. "It's a lot different reading something than actually doing it."

Roosevelt said that she didn't want to exclude non-students from the program because some parents aren't able to attend class because they are spending their time as a stay-at-home parent, but may later want to enroll at Valley.

"I think it's great to be able to get advice from other moms," said Cathy Bardeau, mother of 5-month-old Micah. "And [Micah] would never see other children if not for this program."

Bardeau, who is not a Valley student, heard about the program through Valley student Natacha Smallwood, mother of 4-month-old Ibrahim.

"I'm a stay-at-home mom," said Smallwood. "Getting out of the house and getting to talk to adults is great."

"Parent and Baby" meets 1:30 p.m. Fridays in Math/Science 110. For more information, call Marni Roosevelt at 818-947-5529.

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