EMMAUS, Pa. - New parents often have a lot of questions, and a new workshop series at the Emmaus Public Library hopes to answer them — and give toddlers a friendly place to play with others.
Taking place each Tuesday in August, the ‘Family Place’ Parent-Child workshop series will have a specific focus for each event and will bring in local experts to act as a resource for parents.
The schedule includes:
- 8/2: Early Literacy, with EPL Youth Services Librarian Sue Monroe.
- 8/9: Child Development, with pediatricians Dr. Toff and Dr. Cohen from Children’s Healthcare.
- 8/16: Music & Movement, with St. Ann’s School music teacher Ariel Scholz.
- 8/23: Nutrition, with Registered Dietitian Heather Kistler.
- 8/30: Early Intervention, with Melissa Vandever, of Easter Seals’ Make the First Five Count program.
Different toys and play setups will be available during the sessions. While geared towards kids ages 1-3, siblings under the age of 6 are also welcome.
"I didn't realize how often parents say, ‘Well, I don't know what I'm supposed to do to play with my kids,'" said Youth Services Librarian Susan Monroe. "So this is familiar territory. We're going to be playing with the kids, the adults are going to get to play with the kids. But the adults will also have the opportunity to ask questions of community support specialists."
The Emmaus library recently joined Family Place Libraries, which provided the format and training for the events, after winning a state grant for training and improving their parenting collection. Earlier this year, Monroe and a colleague traveled to a weeklong workshop session along with other librarians in Long Island, NY, to discuss best practices, materials, and other helpful knowledge about childhood development and literacy.
As a member, the library will host more workshops like these in the future twice annually.
Each session is limited to 15 families and attendees will need to preregister by calling the library at 610-965-9284, or emailing emmauspl@cliu.org.
Each session runs from 10:30 a.m. to noon in the Margaret Knoll Gardner Lecture Room at the library.
