Playing

Wahpeton Daily News

Playing is a child’s job: take time to nurture

Niki Jensen of Enderlin and Julie Moderow of Wahpeton marvel at an all feather purse while bidding on items at ‘It’s a Girl Thing’ Monday evening at St. Mary’s School. About 320 people attended the event and bid on 211 items during the silent auction. The money goes to support Someplace Safe in Wilkin County. Daily News photo by Anna Jauhola.

Two large duffel bags are stacked on top of each other in the corner of Jill Christopherson's office, and they bulge with pop-up toys, sorting blocks and musical instruments. A third bag filled with straw rests on top.

As an Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) teacher, Christopherson uses the toys and straw as sensory material in her classroom.

"Parents don't realize how important play is," she said. "To sit down and actually play with their children is so important, because play is a child's work, and what makes that so valuable is the language they acquire during play."Early Childhood Family Education is a state program that works with families and children between birth to kindergarten. The philosophy behind the program is that parents are the primary teachers and the home provides a child's most important learning environment.

"Home systems aren't what they used to be," Christopherson said, who has been involved with the program for the past 12 years. "There isn't a lot of parent support built into our society as a whole in the U.S. ECFE is here to support parents to help them identify their strengths, because every parent has things they do well."

As one of two teachers at Breckenridge Elementary licensed in Early Childhood and Parent Education, Christopherson is part of a shrinking pool of teachers. The shortage in the field, along with funding being cut by the state of Minnesota and full class sizes, has spurred Christopherson to give talks at colleges to encourage more parent educators in the future.

Kindergarten teachers can easily differentiate between those who were exposed to reading and those that were not, as well as recognize those who have had outside experience like going to a restaurant. In an excerpt from David Perlmutter, M.D.'s book, "Raise A Smarter Child By Kindergarten," he states, "There is a brief window of opportunity in a child's life when parents can help create a brain that is built for optimal performance ... The brain can be shaped and molded well into adulthood and even into old age, but the most important work is done in early childhood."

Another facet of her life involves "Home Visiting," which is part of the Parent Outreach Education Program and has served all of Wilkin County for the past sixteen years. If a family has a child up to 5 years old, Christopherson can be at the home on a structured visit once a week, for a half an hour long. Similar to taking an EFCE class, a few of the program goals revolve around positive play, modeling and positive interaction, but it is adapted for the home environment.

Christopherson doesn't have an agenda; the parents and children can take the lead while she helps them identify the strengths and areas of parenting or childhood development they want to learn. Mostly, it's volunteer work. But she says that the impact made by parents has a greater ability to change a child's life than the 6-8 hours she logs with them a week.

"Trust building and relationship building is the first place to begin when wanting to help children succeed and reach their fullest potential," she said. "It begins with the parents."

Of the multiple projects she's already involved in, another one happens right around Christmas time. It's called "Community Elves," which has teachers and students participate in service learning projects. Duties range from collecting money and buying gift certificates to shopping and wrapping presents for families.

Christopherson coordinates the lists from the families and has the teachers do the shopping.

"It's a very individualized thing, so that parents don't have increased economic stress at Christmas time," she said. "When they already have a hard time just paying the electric bill or paying for the heat, it's just a way to reduce some of their stress."

Christopherson has positive remarks about steps that projects like these and programs like Early Childhood Initiative have taken. The public has been receptive and those holding the "purse strings" are becoming more educated.

"It doesn't take much convincing, because family values here are wonderful," she said. "It just takes time to be able to share the message."