CAPE GO GET INFORMATION DISPLAYS ON PARENTING

Parenting Corners, displays that connect parents to the multitude of information out there on raising children, are coming to Cape Girardeau, perhaps as early as April.

Parenting Corners are table-top displays and computer centers that offer information on a wide range of parenting issues and links to services and support, said Penny Fadler, Parenting Corner project coordinator for Missouri. She was in Cape Girardeau Tuesday to talk to a coalition of local agencies and organizations working to bring Parenting Corners to the area.

The Parenting Corners here will be funded through a $12,000 grant from the Missouri Department of Child Support Enforcement and put together by ParentLink, a coalition of government, business and social service agencies to provide parenting resources.

While the funding is from the Department of Child Enforcement, the Parenting Corners will be available to any parent seeking information, said Leah Shrum, prevention advocate for the Community 2000 Prevention Support Center. Community 2000 is one of 19 local service providers planning how and where Parenting Corners will be set up in Cape Girardeau.

"I could see where the information provided at Parenting Corners could be useful to parents from all backgrounds and economic levels," Shrum said.

The Parenting Corner display models that will be used in Cape Girdeau feature panels that show the types of information available in five categories: parents, infant/toddler, preschool/school age, teen and special needs. The information is in the form of pamphlets that can be ordered and books and video and audio tapes that can be checked out through ParentLink. Parents can call ParentLink through a toll-free number or access its Web site through a laptop computer that will be part of the display.

The computer also can be used to access links to service providers in the community.

The toll-free number connects callers to WarmLine, a ParentLink service where professional with backgrounds in education, family studies and social work offer supportive conversations with callers, Fadler said.

Fadler said that there probably will be six Parenting Corners in the Cape Girardeau-Jackson area, though the locations have not been settled on yet. She said ideally the displays will be located at a library or agency easily accessible to parents.

There will be two other Parenting Corner displays that could be checked out for special events such as fairs, school events and other events that would draw parents. The target date for having the Parenting Corners up and operational is April, Fadler said.

Shrum said she there has been great interest in the Parenting Corners among service providers as well as parents she has surveyed.

"Parents often don't know where to go to find information and the problem may be one they don't want to ask others about," Shrum said.

"With Parenting Corner and WarmLine they can get the information they need from a neutral source without embarrassment or fear," Fadler said.

Fadler said the displays have been well-received in Hallsville, the first city in Missouri to get Parenting Corners. She said parents have been checking out material and calling WarmLine from the displays since they were set up Sept. 1.

She said one draw of Parenting Corner is the wealth of information that can be accessed. The Connection Center, which houses WarmLine, has more than 1,100 different resources on parenting issues, Fadler said. There are materials on topics ranging from potty training to dealing with teens, from building self-esteem to getting kids to do chores. There is information on development from infancy through adolescence.

"All their material is professionally reviewed, so it's good, sound sources of parenting information," Fadler said.

Also of benefit to parents, Fadler said, is the WarmLine, which parents can call with specific problems or just for reassurance.

"The mother of a six-week-old infant called because the baby kept crying and she was stressed and crying and she wanted to know what to do," Fadler said. "The staff offered to send her information and told her it was normal for a six-week-old to cry a lot and normal for new mothers to go through postpartum blues. They assured her things would work out. She just needed 30 minutes of supportive conversation."

Fadler and Shrum, both parents, said they have gotten information from Parenting Corners before and found them easy to use.

"One audiotape I'm thinking of checking out is "Siblings without Rivalry," said Fadler, the mother of two children ages 13 and 8.

Shrum said she visited the Connection Center where WarmLine calls are answered and described workers there as "just wonderful."