There are a number of resources available in town that can help guide parents with guiding their young children through the early stages of life.
“The Early Years Fair” is scheduled for Thursday,October 9, upstairs at the Badlands Community Facility. The fair brings together twenty organizations with resources geared to help the area’s parents .
Louise Henrickson, of Drumheller Family Literacy, said there are five areas of developmental growth that are the focus for the little ones zero to five years:
- physical health and well being
- social competence
- emotional maturity
- language and cognitive development
-communication skills and general knowledge
There is a lot of information available for parents, including government publications, to give parents guidelines on what kids should be doing at different ages.
Henrickson said for infants, one of the most important things is “Tummy Time”.
“Tummy Time is huge. We have parents who weren’t aware that infants need Tummy Time to build the muscles.”
She said there are cases where a child has a flat spot on the back of the head because they’ve never had Tummy Time.
And there’s information available for parents to see what their child should do as a toddler,
“Should they be catching a ball? Should they be able to kick a ball? The area of gross motor skills,” said Henrickson.
Henrickson said parents can be reluctant to reach out when they become aware of developmental milestones their child isn’t hitting, but it’s important to listen to “Mother’s Intuitions”, and find resources to address any issues as early as they can for the child. The “Ages and Stages” program may help calm some parental anxiety with solid information.
“Every parent wants better for their child,” said Henrickson, “and we want parents to be aware there are resources there to help them.”
“Because it’s the hardest job you will ever do, is to raise a child.”
The Early Years Fair is held by the Drumheller & Area Early Childhood Development Coalition.
