In a partnership between Covenant Children’s Hospital and the Parenting Cottage, parents can take free parenting classes in a program called Smart Start.
These classes are available through Project HOPES, which stands for Healthy Outcomes through Prevention and Early Support. The program was developed by the Texas Department of Prevention and Early Intervention Services.
Lubbock County is one of only seven Texas counties to receive the funding.
The goal of the classes is to help create healthy, strong families.
“I think it’s a resource hospitals typically don’t provide, so it’s nice for us to be able to partner with a community organization that already has experience providing this type of education,” Lucas Divine said.
Divine is the Covenant Children’s project manager.
“This at least gives them the chance to learn some of the normal, developmental milestones things like that that they need to know to be more effective parents,” he said.
Smart Start has four, one-hour classes. They are the first Tuesdays of June, July, August, and September. Carla Olson, executive director of the Parenting Cottage, said these classes are scheduled at a time that could allow working parents to make it as well. Classes are from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
“We tried to pick four topics that would benefit parents most in that first year, and just if we could go in there and help those parents and kind of have a look at ahead, like in three months ahead, ‘Ok in three months, my baby’s going to be doing this and this and this,’ so they kind of have a heads up and little bit of support and they can ask questions,” Olson said.
There are four topics covered in these classes. They include ‘Your Child’s Developing Personality and Emotions’, ‘Creating a Safe Environment for your Child’, and Positive Discipline and Parenting’. On July 5, the topic is ‘Milestones and Realistic Expectations’.
“Children are known to do certain things at certain ages, but of course as a parent, you’re looking at your child and wondering ‘is my child where they are supposed to be, are they doing the same thing as my brother-in-law’s child is doing’ so we want them to anticipate at what age this child will start sitting up, rolling over, starting to crawl, what are the things you can look for,” she said.
To sign up, call the Parenting Cottage at (806) 795-7552.
