Strengthening Families Feature

Training Leads to Big Changes for Our Families and Our Staff

We recently took a wonderful training series where we learned about stress in families, what causes it, and how it can lead to child abuse (physical, emotional, and mental) and neglect. We learned simple ways that, as child care providers, we can prevent abuse in the families that we provide care for.

To be honest, when I heard that stepping out of our comfort zone and offering a few options for parents that are unconventional for a child care center was all I had to do to keep children from being abused, I had many not-so-positive thoughts—such as: ”It’s the parent’s fault that they don’t love and value their children enough not to hit them. Parents that do this should have their children taken away. I’ve been in child care for many years and they’re going to tell me I have the power to prevent the children that I love and care for from being abused? But How?” I was doubtful it would even work, but always willing to try something new, I gave it a shot.

Before the training was even completed, we had started implementing what we’d learned into our center. I was pleasantly surprised to see huge and immediate changes in many of our families. In one instance, we had a mom with several challenges in life. Because I’d taken the class, I noticed the signs, applied what I had learned, put it into action. A week later, the mom told me that because of the large amount of stress in her life, she had come very close to hitting her children out of anger, but after our help, she was able to remove herself from the path she was headed down. I couldn’t believe how small actions we took forever changed an entire family’s life. It is so amazing to see the difference several months later, not only in this family but in three others.

I am so grateful for this class and our new experiences, which not only have benefited our daycare families, but our lives as well. I would strongly suggest this training to everyone, no matter how long you’ve worked with children or how skeptical you may be. It will definitely forever change you life and the lives of the children in your community.

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