By Theresa Churchill, Herald & Review, Decatur, Ill.
Jun. 14–DECATUR — Alex Wall said he wouldn’t have known how to swaddle his daughter after her birth nine years ago if he hadn’t watched nurses doing it in the hospital.
“Boys are socialized differently than girls,” he said. “They don’t play with dolls or see themselves as parents in the future; they play with sticks and swords and see themselves as race car drivers and firefighters.”
That’s one reason dads often fail to be full partners in parenting after their children are born.
“Then we moms fuss at them like they can’t possibly do it right, so they withdraw,” said Pam Burkhart, project coordinator for Macon County Safe from the Start.
To change that, Wall and Burkhart, co-teachers of a six-session Nurturing Fathers series co-sponsored by Safe from the Start and New Life Pregnancy Center, are now trained to teach a new parenting class aimed at new fathers but open to anyone interested in learning how to care for an infant.
Called Real Dads Rock, the free class is being provided in Decatur through February 2009 under a $50,000 grant awarded to the Macon County Health Department by Circle of Parents, a Chicago-based national network of statewide nonprofit organizations and parent leaders dedicated to preventing child abuse and strengthening families.
It uses the Conscious Fathering curriculum developed by Parent Trust for Washington Children, which covers how to handle, feed, burp, change and clean a baby and respond to his or her needs.
“We’ll focus on tips for calming babies when they cry and helping babies and parents sleep better,” Burkhart said. “We won’t say this to participants, but it’s child abuse prevention 101.”
Not all new parents know, for example, that infants often signal they’re getting hungry by licking their lips, sticking out their tongue and/or turning their heads to the side.
Burkhart said participants will also be encouraged to write down when baby eats to get a better sense of when the child is going to want to eat again. Wall said breastfeeding is the only aspect of parenting that dads can’t do but that involvement by the father is a leading indicator for successful breastfeeding.
Judy Gibbs, maternal child health special projects coordinator at the health department, said the hope is to set up a regular schedule for the class and to incorporate it into existing programs.
This includes childbirth preparation classes at Decatur Memorial and St. Mary’s hospitals, Phoenix II for expectant and new parents at Central Christian Church and the Nurturing Fathers series.
A related support group that will meet twice a month will also be set up.
Gibbs said the agency checkup requirement of the grant is causing the health department to look at ways of making all its services friendlier to fathers.
“This is such a fantastic program,” she said. “Our goal is raise money to send more people for training and go on after the grant period is up.”
Theresa Churchill can be reached at [email protected] or 421-7978.
If you go
WHAT: Real Dads Rock, a free 2 1/2 -hour class on infant care
WHEN: First classes are 9:30 a.m. Saturday, June 21, Macon County Health Department, 1221 E. Condit St.; also 5:30 p.m. Monday, June 23, and 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, July 1, New Life Pregnancy Center, 1698 E. Pershing Road.
TO REGISTER: E-mail [email protected] or call 422-6294.
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