BOISE, Idaho — The Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children (Idaho AEYC) is providing resources and education to families with young children. The Ready for Kindergarten program prepares parents to teach their kids as they play every day.
"The whole purpose of Ready for Kindergarten is to empower the parent or caregiver as a child's first and most influential teacher to be able to play with a purpose in their home for 10 minutes a day," Abigail Cobb said.
Cobb started off as a parent going through the Idaho AEYC's Ready for Kindergarten program and is now a facilitator for the organization.
"They're providing high-quality educational opportunities for individuals with families," Cobb said.
Families like Tayler Messmer's — “I started off as a first-time brand-new mother," said Messmer.
She is learning how to parent her one-and-a-half-year-old son and uses the Ready for Kindergarten program to play with purpose every day.
"The things that we receive in the kit is something that we'll kind of discuss and go through during the class and then we get to use everything that we learned and we can take it home and use those tools to help bring success, not just for the child, but also for us," Messmer said.
Idaho AEYC also works to increase access to affordable childcare, offers scholarships for students interested in joining the early education workforce, and provides other resources for the entire family.
"A child is born learning. Play is learning, and there are ways that we as caregivers and parents can really invest and amplify that learning," said Sheralynn Bauder, with Idaho AEYC.
The kindergarten workshops are free, and parents get to take home high-quality toys for their kids.
Community Baby Shower donations will help support workshops like these, plus scholarships and other community programs.
