All About Parent University

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Over the past few years, CYC has expanded on what well-being in our communities means. We have been carefully growing our programming to provide resources and knowledge to both children and caregivers at our Centers.  January 2023, we started our very first Parent University classes in partnership with the Illinois Afterschool Network. This is a workshop that meets once a month, over the course of 6-8 months, for presentations and discussions about childcare and parenting. The goal of Parent University is to set up caregivers with tools they might need to assist in their child’s development. These sessions help to bridge potential gaps in understanding academic and social-emotional needs. By offering our knowledge of child development, CYC can assist families in building on their wonderful parenting skills.  

Throughout 8 months, we covered lots of important topics: 

  • January: Social Emotional Workshop – Understanding your child’s emotional processing and reactions in social settings. 

  • February: Self-Care for Youth and Families – Learning about holistic well-being for the whole family. 

  • March: Caregivers Roles in their Child’s Education – How to assist your child in an academic setting and creating an Individualized Education Program (IEP). 

  • April: Not Difficult, Just Different – Understanding and guiding your child’s emotions through customized action plans. 

  • May: Working with Diverse Learners – Identifying potential learning disabilities, and how to assist and advocate for your child. 

  • August: Power of Parent Culminating Event – Wrapping all these lessons together, this session touched on what healthy parenting looks like and discussed different parenting styles. 

At the end of all these events, caregivers received a certificate of completion and a well-being bag filled with goodies for themselves and their children. We would like to thank our amazing parents that participated this year. We can’t wait to work with the next group of lifelong learners this coming January! 

Congratulations to the Parent University Class of 2023!