- 5/23/2007 10:02:18 PMParenting Class - 2nd WednesdayTonight we had 2 more speakers at parenting class. We met in a different building than previously. It was setup more like a classroom and much more comfortable. I wouldn't mind if the rest of the classes were moved here.
The evening was only scheduled to be 2 hours long so each speaker had a very limited amount of time. The first speaker asked each of us to tell a little bit about ourselves, what we were doing and where we were in our adoption/foster care journey. This ate up about 30 minutes.
For the last 30 minutes she basically said the following:
These children will be grieving because of the loss in their lives. Loss of parents as well as everything they have ever known and you have to understand this.
The 2nd speaker discussed child development from birth to 3 years. She primarily works with children and families when there is concerns that the child is "not where it is supposed to be" (developmentally speaking). She uses a system of playing to determine what the child knows and is capable of doing. One thing that she stressed is that all children are different and cannot be measured using a standard chart or scale.
For example, when should a child begin talking? She preferred to use the term "communicating". Is the child communicating it's wants or needs regardless of whether or not he is using words? Sometimes she is actually working with children who need help while other times she works with parents and their expectations of their children. In many cases, the developmental progress is compared to some national chart but what is lost is that children begin doing certain things during a particular time range rather than a specific time. Children begin walking between 8 and 18 months. Some children never crawl and go from sitting to standing up to walking. What ever they do, we must be careful not to be quick to label them as "advanced" or "behind" but rather "on their own schedule".
