A new, free program being offered locally was designed to help new parents better prepare their children for early learning.
Smart Babies was developed by personnel from The Craddock Center, a Cherry Log nonprofit that offers various learning and childhood literacy programs. The center has worked with 3- and 4-year-olds for more than 23 years with its programs to build school readiness and literacy skills as those age groups near kindergarten, noted Kirk Cameron, Craddock Center director.
“But what’s happening from ages 0-3?” Cameron asked, looking to start a program for those earliest learners.
Smart Babies was designed to help those age groups be ready for preschool and kindergarten, while also preparing their parents to be their first teachers. The program is based on the belief that parents have the potential to be their children’s best teachers, noted Bev Cook, Smart Babies coordinator.
“We deal with language, literacy, math and reading, as well as social and emotional learning,” Cook added. “Kindergarten has changed, and children are expected to know a lot more about everything now. Parents need to be their children’s best, first teacher, and that’s what we’re about.”
Cook said that might involve a lifestyle change from parents, which means reducing screen time and increasing one-on-one communication.
“It doesn’t cost any money. It just entails a change of lifestyle where you interact with the child more,” she added. “You see so many parents put kids in front of the TV or hand them a phone when they’re in the car or at a restaurant. We want parents to talk to and interact with their children and take turns talking — about colors, numbers and shapes and reading them books every single day, even before birth, so they can hear words.”
Safe Babies utilizes curriculum developed by Ready for Kindergarten, a Washington-based school readiness program with the same fundamental goal — to empower parents to succeed as their children’s first teachers.
“They sent out two representatives, one from Washington State and one from Texas. They demonstrated the program for us, and the six board members who were there for the presentation all said, ‘This is it!’ So far, we’ve used this excellent curriculum in three workshops,” Cook said.
To get the full benefit of the program, participants are expected to attend at least three of the Smart Babies workshops, which are offered at no cost to them. The workshops are scheduled several weeks apart, and they’re each focused on different age groups including 0-1 year, 1 year-2 years and 2 years-3 years.
“Each workshop is 90 minutes long. They receive a packet, which has a copy of the presentation, and they go home with at least four developmentally appropriate toys and at least four books from every workshop,” said Cook. “We take the toys out and say ‘OK, what would you be talking with your baby about?’ It’s not just (about giving the children) the toys, but interacting with them and giving them some undivided attention.”
Safe Babies workshops are currently being offered at Safe Choice Pregnancy Care Center in Ellijay and Her Hope Pregnancy Center in Blue Ridge. Cook said The Craddock Center is also working to get the program offered at the East Ellijay location of Georgia Mountains Health.
“We started out with these agencies because (parents) were already going there and already comfortable going there,” said Cook.
Rhenda Booth, Safe Choice Pregnancy Care Center director, said, to take the course there, participating parents also need to be registered with Safe Choice. The Sailors Drive pregnancy care center also offers various other classes for new and expectant parents.
“They get some great educational tools and books, but they’ll also earn Baby Bucks with us,” said Booth. Baby Bucks is a Safe Choice incentive program where class members earn points, which they can cash in for items a new baby might need.
“I call it a pilot program because it’s brand new for us all,” Booth continued. “I think it’s a great program that’s going to help parents with teaching their children to learn to read, (among other things). One thing you teach the 0-to-1-year olds is to recognize pictures and shapes. That’s one of the first parts of reading, recognizing shapes.”
Cook, who previously worked as an elementary school principal in rural Mississippi, had been wanting to get involved with an educational program for new parents since moving here three years ago, but she wasn’t able to find any such programs.
“(In Mississippi), we had kids come into kindergarten who didn’t know how to pick up a book, hold it right side up and turn a page. They hadn’t been read to at all, and that just blew my mind,” she said.
After volunteering for the Craddock Center, Cook felt it was a great fit to develop the program that eventually became known as Smart Babies.
“I thought this organization has its act together and its heart in the right place,” she said. “I started volunteering with them, and Kirk and I started doing research to see what was going on in Georgia (for something in age 0-3 parent education). There was nothing like this going on,” she said.
Cook said there’s a two-participant minimum in order for each class to be held, but none of the classes have been that small yet. Booth said preparations can be made to hold additional workshops if needed.
“If we have (a whole lot of) people sign up, we can make accommodations for that,” she added. “They can call us, and we’d be happy to take their names down and get the information we need.”