UNIVERSITY
Parents take on volunteer role
at Amazon Child Care Center
t.y ArvStt,
Children at the Amnion Child Care Center enjoy a tree ride courtesy of a volunteer
By Colleen Pohlig
Emerald Reporter
This is no ordinary c hild cart' center In fact,
tin: only ordinary thing about the Amazon Child
(fare Center is that the sound ol excited, laughing
little kids can he heard from way down the street
The second you step into the building, you re
ali/.e that kids live here i'll is is not the everyday
center where parents drop oil a i tying 2-year-old
for someone to take t are of for most ol the day
The non-profit center, started m 1978, is a lull
time parent cooperative geared toward parent in
volved child cure l’urents are involved in every
aspect of the Center from doing the dishes to
teaching kindergarten and everything in be
tween.
" The parents really feel as though they own the
program and so they don't feel like intruders, "
Center Director Susie Blanchard said. "They are
here all the time they're here cooking, they're
hero cleaning or they’re here In the classroom
"They get to know the kids and so I don't think
the kids' needs go unmet," Blunt hurt! said
By volunteering their time at the Center, the
parents are able to reduce their monthly child
care bill. The reductions are based on how rnanv
hours a week they are willing to work
The Center is open to children of University
students, with Amazon residents having first pri
ority Currently enrolled are 48 children, '.Hi of
whom are in the preschool/kindergarten program.
Of the 30, 20 parents are presently "co-opping"
which makes for an outstanding ratio of parents
to children.
The remaining 10 children are in a new pro
gram started this fall called Latch Key. The pro
gram, Initiated ut the request of student parents,
gives seven to 10-year-olds the opportunity to he
involved in extra curricular activities after school
rather than going homo to an empty house.
The Center rents out the Amazon Community
Room in the afternoons and the kids play soccer,
learn art, play the piano, or just plain have fun in
the same parent-involved child care atmosphere
as the Center.
"Some of them (Latch-Key participants) are
previous day-care kids so the parents have a great
deal of affection for the co-op," Blanchard said.
"Most of them are aged 7 to 10 and they have no
where to be and they basically onded up hanging
out here (Amazon Center), so the parents called
me and said 'lot's put something together "
Blanchard, director since 1982, brought her
philosophy on how kids should grow up ut the
center. Kids should be in an environment where
each child can experience and develop coopera
tive autonomy without inhibiting his or her free
(loins lo do Ixitli good und Uni, Blanchard s.iid
One way of dealing with the kids' so milled
"had" behavior is transforming it from a situation
of punishment to a situation ol validating each
child's feelings, By doing this, the Center lias
changed what was once the "time-out" comer to
the “feeling corner" where a huge stufled ro< kmc,
chair coverixl with blankets serves as tin' place to
go to problem solve with .1 parent or te.n In i Ti
child is encouraged to figure out why he a she i .
having these feelings.
"It is validating your feelings instead ol saving
'you need to sit there and think about this,'
Blanchard said "It's saying to the kid 'it's Oh
th.it you’re angry here's a pillow
Sometimes you will hear a l-vear-old saving
"why don't we go lo the leafing cornel '" Him
( hard said "1‘art of it is we, as facilitator . n i
to stand hack and let the children solve all their
problems themselves they do a really goo ! mb
of it." Blanchard said.
Don Stull, who "co-ops” and has a six \ear id
daughter, Shanna, in the Latch-key progiam,
could not have made it without the Centei, he
said.
"I could not have gotten through the I nner-.:
tv. my wife Lisa couldn't have gotten through
school and Shanna couldn't have gotten belter
care if it had not been for the program." Stull
said. "It would have been impossible financially
und without the support groups (at the Center) to
get through."
Stull said fie thinks of the Center as a resource,
rather than just a child care facility, lor three rea
sons. The first is that the parents who co-op are
able to network with other parents to solve prob
lerns and share their experiences with parents
who may he going through the same things
The second reason Stull considers il a resource
center is that "Susie is there," he said She is aide
to bring programs and support group information
to the co-op for student parents
finally, the Center acts as a resource in that
"there are lots of other student parents who bring
a lot of information about what they are studying
in school to the co-op,” Stull said
Stull's daughter has benefited in numerous
ways from the program, he said.
"In the goals that parents want for their chil
dren — they want them to be liked, respected,
charismatic and independent this is exactly
what Shanna has received from the program,'
Stull said. "She has social responsibility, respects
other people, cultures and people's choices for
living their lives instead of criticizing them
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At the monthly meeting ot Squidheads Anonymous