Parent Education Through Child Care Providers

Extension parent education programs have struggled with one persistent problem. We know parents need information and support if they're to provide a nurturing environment for children. We have a wealth of excellent publications on a wide variety of important parenting topics. However, we're often stymied in finding ways to get those publications off our shelves and into the hands of a large number of parents.

To solve this problem, Nevada Cooperative Extension developed an innovative program using child care providers as an avenue to get practical parenting information to parents of young children. We received a $11,300 grant from the Committee for the Protection of Children, the state child abuse prevention fund, to conduct the "Tune In to Kids" program with all licensed child care providers in four western Nevada counties.

Child care providers were invited to give free Extension publications to the parents in their programs, and a total of 278 licensed providers agreed to be a part of the program in the four -county area. Specifically, 108 out of a possible 109 (99%) child care centers, and a total of 170 out of a possible 179 (95%) home day care providers signed up. Overall, those providers in the program served a total of 8,646 families-99% of the total of 8,743 families in licensed child care in the four counties.

Eleven parenting publications were developed by Extension staff and covered parenting stress, growth and development, guidance, parent-child communication, self-esteem, and learning activities. Some of the publications were adapted from other states' publications, and all were written at a lower reading level, contained plenty of interesting pictures, and were printed on bright, colorful stock. Inserted into each brochure was a fun activity for parents to do with their children to reinforce concepts in the publication.

Providers used a number of methods to distribute the brochures. They were given out once a week to either parents or their children, given as a total packet, included in monthly newsletters and billings, displayed in racks and on counters for parents to pick-up, and given individually to parents whom providers thought needed the specific information.

Evaluation was done using a stratified random sampling of providers and parents in the program. Providers reported noticing improvements in parents' behavior toward their children and positive changes in the behavior of the children after completion of the program. They also used information from the publications to improve the care they gave to children in their program.

Parents reported the brochures had helped them to provide more learning activities, spend more time, and have more positive interactions with their children. Parents also felt more confident, had a better understanding of parenting, and felt better able to cope with the stress of parenting after reading the brochures.

The Tune In to Kids program was successful in getting Extension parenting information into the hands of a large number of parents. Furthermore, this information created positive changes in the way parents raise their children.

The method could be used to distribute other Extension information-nutrition, money management, and health-to parents. Another advantage is that the information is delivered in small, easy-to-digest bites, rather than overwhelming parents with too much information at one time.

Parents often look to child care providers for parenting information. Since so many families with young children use child care, programs such as Tune In to Kids can be an excellent avenue for getting quality Extension parenting information into the hands of parents with young children.