Testimonials

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"My parents abused me as a child and now I will not do that to my children because of these classes."

John

John was referred to the Relief Nursery from one of our daycare partners because of his severe aggression. The staff at the daycare were extremely overwhelmed and told mom he would have to participate in the Therapeutic Early Childhood Classroom and mom would have to participate in home visits for parenting education-or he was going to be expelled.  

Within the first two weeks of John starting in the classroom, the teachers realized that John had witnessed violence in the home as well as his father being taken to jail. John did not know how to calm himself down when upset or express his feelings appropriately. The only way he knew how to interact with peers was through aggressive play, taking toys and hitting. During home visits, mom was very open about using spanking as one of her primary discipline techniques and was resistant to changing.  In the therapeutic classroom, the teachers helped John learn to use words to discuss feelings and how to calm himself when he was upset.  This helped decrease his aggression.  Relief Nursery also worked with his daycare teacher to create a positive behavior plan. His mother received regular home visits, learning new discipline strategies and ways to manage her own stress. She is now consistent settling limits and uses more effective, non-harsh discipline strategies.

Lisa

Lisa is a 16 year old mother of a 10 month old son who lives at home with her son, parents and siblings. Lisa attended the formal parent education classes provided by Relief Nursery.  When she began the group, she had some significant misconceptions about her son’s development.  She reported that whenever her child cried it was to “make her mad.” In addition, she did not believe that she should play with her infant and allowed many different people to care for him. She would often get frustrated with her son’s crying and had difficulty soothing him, which was impacting their bonding/attachment. After participating in classes, Lisa has learned how to deal with the challenges of parenting while remaining in control.  She now has realistic expectations for her son and they are doing well.  She has been trying to teach her parents and the baby’s father about what she is learning in parenting class so that they can all be consistent.