Patrick Trautfield
Click here to read the first story in this two part series.
“A lot of kids don’t want to leave. They’ll stop (in the reception area), wanting their parents to read them stories or play one last game with them before leaving, which says a lot about the center. At the same time, though, it gives parents a chance to participate,” said Roxie Schmitz, the administrative accounting assistant at the Orfalea Family and Associated Students Inc. Children’s Center.
While the staff and children themselves play vital roles in the center’s success, the importance of parents can not be stressed enough.
“Parents are children’s first teachers, and we really want to honor that and help them become advocates for their children throughout their lives,” said Tonya Iversen, the center’s director of children’s programs.
Because of its location and its focus on quality child care, the center really meets the needs of those in the community, Schmitz said. But the very things that make the center so great also lead to high demand among parents – and create a waitlist of approximately 150 children in the process.
“That’s probably one of the biggest challenges and one of the biggest misconceptions out there. Sometimes I hear people say, ‘Don’t even bother, you’re not even going to get in.’ Our first priority is to serve student parents . Faculty and staff need to get on the list and plan to be on the list for a while,” Iversen said.
“The message out there is that if there are students who are not on our waiting list, they need to come because we can probably help them, though it may take a little while to be able to get to them.”
That was the case for landscape architecture senior Rebecca Brown. As soon as she found out she was pregnant, Brown made sure to put her name on the list. Now, three and a half years later, her 3-year-old son Tristan is in the program.
“It’s wonderful to be able to just walk across campus,” she said. “He goes to school with mom every day; he thinks he’s a Cal Poly student.”
For others, like liberal studies senior Liz Fasse, there was less of a wait. Two weeks after filling out an application, Fasse was notified that her son had been accepted to the program for the following term, a decision she is thankful for now.
“I love everything about the center. I just wish there were more facilities like ASI so that when my husband and I decide to expand our family we will be able to send our other children to ASI or a center just like it,” she said in an e-mail interview.
The average wait for faculty and staff on the list is about 1 1/2 to 2 years; the average wait for students, though, is generally less than a year, Iverson said. That means that not even half of those on the waitlist are students.
But, according to these parents, the wait is well worth it. For them, the Children’s Center has been a crucial part of their children’s growth, and has helped better them as parents as well.
Throughout the year, the center offers various events for the parents to attend: socials and pot lucks; biweekly brown-bag lunches to discuss certain issues; and occasional meetings with parents from each classroom to talk about that particular stage of child development.
“It’s also a support system, so that we know that we are on the same journey, and that we can help each other cope with things. We can share experiences and either come up with better ways to do things or share things that have worked in our homes with our children,” said Naomi Watkins, an administrative assistant at the Cal Poly Rec Center whose 4-year-old son Valentine is in room 5.
But the parents don’t just play an important role in each other’s lives; they are encouraged to volunteer or share their passions and hobbies in the children’s classrooms as often as their schedules permit.
“We have a lot to share with these children to help the children become more well-rounded,” Watkins said.
And there’s always plenty of room for that.
“Parents are as involved as they want to be or as they have time to be. We really just open the door; they are welcome here any time,” Iversen said. “And what we try to do is kind of get them to come and share their interests.”
In the past, parents have come in to help garden with the children, do science experiments with them or transcribe stories the children dictate to them. For other parents, taking home projects, such as cutting out felt pieces for storyboards, has proven to be easier.
Whatever the project, however much time is spent, one thing is certain: Parents, as well as the Children’s Center staff, play an increasingly important role in these children’s lives and in the overall success of the center.