Invest in Kids - An Activity-Based Guide for Supporting Families and Children

Who We Are

An Activity-Based Guide for Supporting Families and Children

Purpose:

This guide recognizes the importance of the numerous parenting capacities called upon to nurture a child's development. It offers concrete strategies and activities that build on parental strengths and which encourage families to actively participate in creating a nurturing relationship and environment for their young children. A one day institute for trainers or supervisors focuses on maximizing the Guide's effectiveness as a planning and recording tool as well as a vehicle to support parenting capacities, knowledge and skills.

Audience:

The Resource Guide for Home Visitors is intended to support paraprofessional and professional home visitors in their work with parents.

Resource Guide Features:

A comprehensive guide prepared by experienced Canadian experts in early childhood education, early intervention, child development, home visiting and family support.
A section on making an effective telephone contact and a framework for the initial home visit, which is different from all the rest
A section on sharing the planning process with families
50 activities that strengthen such parenting capacities as confidence, self-esteem, resourcefulness, sensitivity, problem solving, communication, and motivation
A section of corresponding handouts that can be reproduced and shared with families
The Comfort, Play and Teach section that contains over 150 parent-child focused activities for the ages 0 - 5 years in the areas of cognitive, social-emotional and language development
A section of Frequently Asked Questions that relate to common parenting issues/concerns in the early years of development

Institute Goals:

To enhance the skills and knowledge of home visitors in planning effective visits with families
To increase the repertoire of strategies that support families to reach their goals
To strengthen a more inclusive approach toward working with families
To facilitate the application of theory and research into practice

RESOURCE GUIDE FOR HOME VISITORS

Protocol Section
Focus:
- Effective telephone contact
- Framework for the first home visit
- Preparation for successive visits
- Planning process with families
- Family planning sheet

Strengthening parenting capacities
Focus:
- Self-esteem
- Confidence
- Coping
- Knowledge of child development
- Problem solving
- Communication
- Values and beliefs
- Resourcefulness

Activities to enhance early development
Focus:
- Framework of Comfort, Play and Teach
- Areas of development – Language, Social- Emotional and Cognitive
- Ages: 0-6m; 6-12m; 12-18m; 18-24m; 2-3 yrs; 3-4 yrs; 4-5 yrs.
- Developmental milestones

Frequently asked questions
Topics Include:
- Bringing home a new baby
- Children's moods and worries
- Personality, temperament and self-esteem
- Discipline
- Sleeping and eating
- Toilet training
- Brothers and sisters
- Parent's temper, stress and guilt
- School, child care and sports

An Activity Based Guide for Supporting Families
Oct 23, 2020
Toronto, ON - Invest In Kids
$125 per person
Please contact Claire Woolford at ([email protected]) for more information.