Patricia D. Wilder, resource coordinator for the Washington-Wilkes Pre-Kindergarten Program, has been awarded a small grant from the "Center for Child Well-Being" to provide a parenting class for parents.

Title of the class is "Parenting In the Real World: Kids don't come with instructions." The sessions are designed to help parents cope with the stresses they face in rearing their children and in being effective and nurturing parents.

Information was provided to help parents increase their understand of the child with an introduction to early child development so that their expectations of how a child should behave match what the child should be capable of doing.

Parents were also provided with skills to help them develop, improve and reduce stress around the issues of discipline, feeding, getting children to bed, and scheduling.

This session provided information on age-appropriate and social and emotional skills and behaviors. It offered parents ideas on how to foster a child's social and emotional learning at home. The parents were able to discuss issues surrounding their children and have an opportunity to share with each other their concerns in a confidential setting.

Parents participating made comments during their evaluation, including interactions with other parents was helpful Single parents found it helpful because it provided a better understanding of the child. Some parent even said it made a difference on the parent and the child.

At the completion of the class each parent participating received a certificate of award for completing the parenting class.

Child care was provided each evening and a light snack for both parents and children was available. Felicia Hampton was the child care provider for the sessions. Approximately 20 children were present each evening.