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Family Services Index (Resources) >
Start Early
Babies are Born to Learn
The Council of Model Parental Training Programs of Southwestern Illinois represents many programs for children ages birth to five in the Metro East Area. These programs for children ages birth to five and their parents, are based on two important concepts:
- Parents are their child's first and most influential teachers.
- Experiences in the first years of a child's life are key to future success in school and in life.
Metro East Parenting Programs are voluntary and free. The following school districts have programs for parents and their young children under five (you must live within the school district's boundaries):
Alton Community Unit Dist. #11
Belleville Harmony-Emge Dist. #175
Belleville School Dist. #118
Bethalto School Dist. #8
Carlyle Community School Dist. #1
Cahokia Unit School Dist. #187
Collinsville Comm. Unit Dist. #10
East Alton School Dist. #13
Edwardsville Comm. Unit Dist. #7
Freeburg Comm. School Dist. #70
Granite City Comm. Unit Dist. #9
Lebanon School Dist. #9
Mascoutah School District
Millstadt Cons. School Dist. #160
Pontiac/William Holiday Dist. 105
Roxana School District
St. Rose School, Breese
Wesclin Comm. School Dist. #3
Whiteside School District
The above school districts offer some or all of the following services:
Personal Visits: Certified educators help you to understand each stage of your child's development and offer practical tips on ways to encourage learning.
Group Meetings: These programs encourage families to get together, share common concerns, and gain new insight.
Parent/Child Activities: The parenting programs offer opportunities for you to play with your child(ren). This might include playgroups, activities with parent/child time or possibly field trips (each school district's programming is different).
Screening: Periodic screening checks for overall development, language, hearing and vision.
Early detection of potential problems can prevent difficulties later in school.
Referral Network: Metro East Programs help families link with extra services, if needed and wanted, that are beyond the scope of the programs.
If your school district is not listed, you can contact your school district and request them to consider writing for the grant-based parenting program.
Read to Your Children
Reading together twenty minutes a day is the most important gift you can give your child. All of us love our children more than anything in the world. In their first years, we feed them so they grow. We bring them to the doctor so they are healthy. We secure them in car seats so they are safe.
But the most important thing in the first years of life is the growth of the mind and spirit. This is when a child learns to love and trust, to speak and listen.
After a child turns two years old, these things are very difficult to learn or teach ever again. Trusting, singing, laughing, and language are the most important things in a young child's life.
Every day, make a quiet, restful place for twenty minutes. Put your child in your lap and read a book aloud. In the pages of the book you will find a tiny vacation of privacy and intense love. It costs nothing but twenty minutes and a library card. Reading to your child is just like putting gold coins in the bank. It will pay you back tenfold. Your child will learn, and imagine, and be strong in him/herself.
US Department of Education - Early Childhood
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