Weeks 4-5
Hello! The past two weeks have been busy at CCE Tompkins County Family and Community development. Most of my work for the past two weeks centered around preparing the 2GenPsItWorks curriculum and working on its final editing prior to the scheduled first day on the 10th. I worked on, among many other things, making sure to change all of the gendered language, making sure all of the agendas were accurate, writing up agendas for new games and activities, and making sure that all the materials lists were accurate prior to the first class. I also did some work to gather and assemble resources for the parenting in the jails class that will be run in upcoming weeks. Since I was off for the Fourth of July and virtual for the fifth, this was a lot of my work leading up to the scheduled first class on Wednesday.
The beginning of this week was a flurry of activity to prepare for the first 2GenPSitWorks Class, including assisting with the family meal and nutrition component. Unfortunately, the first class was canceled this past Wednesday due to tornado warnings. I was able to assist in calling to let all of the participants know that the first class was canceled. We are likely going to either double up and have two classes in a week, or reschedule this class to the week after class was scheduled to end.
In addition to this, I assisted with two additional playgroups run through Family and Community development, as well as Co-facilitating the Strengthening Families Program class. I have discussed playgroups in previous blog entries, but it is a program designed for parents and children ages 1-4 to model healthy attachment, increase socialization and sense of community, and more. I am able to develop relationships with the children and their parents through these weekly interactions, and it is lovely to see them grow and begin to develop friendships. It was the second week of the Strengthening Families Curriculum. SFP is a program that is designed to help reduce risk factors of substance abuse for Parents and Children. It teaches skills involved in bonding, setting clear boundaries, and monitoring their children’s emotional well being and activities. In the children’s session, which I helped facilitate, we were able to have a structured discussion surrounding active listening skills, as well as practice these skills with each kid. They learned new strategies for letting friends and family feel heard. The Strengthening Families Program also has time for family bonding. This week, in addition to the family meal, a delicious salad with grilled chicken and fix-ins, the families were able to build structures out of marshmallows and dried pasta. The kids and families had lovely conversations surrounding what they wanted to have their structures be. These constructive conversations hopefully are a strong basis for further interaction.
Experience like this allows me to be better prepared to assist when writing and editing for the 2GenPsItWorks curriculum. I am learning a lot about what type of interactions parents and kids have during these classes, and it helps to increase my appreciation for what the upcoming data analysis for the pilot program will be affecting.