Published: November 17, 2007 07:33 am      

'Age Appropriate' course set Monday

The Woodward County OSU Extension Office is sponsoring a special course to help teach local parents “What is age appropriate for your child?”

The class will be held at the Woodward County Fairgrounds on Monday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Rhonda Richmond, family and consumer sciences extension educator, said it should be an informative evening.

Richmond said Debbie Richardson, a parenting specialist with the OSU Cooperative Extension Service, will be instructing the class. Richardson will be leading parents through a one-hour program that gives a basic overview about what is age appropriate and then the parents will have an hour to ask any remaining questions they might have.

“We’ve had her (Richardson) out her before to speak to child care providers,” Richmond said. “She knows her stuff.”

In fact, she said, Richardson has a master’s degree in the field.

Richmond said Richardson will also be leading a class in Vici on Monday morning.

She said Woodward County’s extension office often “shares” specialists with other counties. She said it makes it more worthwhile for the specialists to make the trip out to visit Woodward when they can also visit a neighboring county on the same trip.

As the family sciences extension educator, Richmond said she had been receiving a lot of questions from parents within the last couple of years about what exactly is age appropriate for their children.

She said some parents will become concerned when their two-year-old begins hitting his playmates and want to know if it is just a phase or if it is a major problem.

In other cases, Richmond said parents will want to know what they should expect their children to know at a certain age. Should their three-year-old know how to read, for example.

“Sometimes they (parents) want to grow them (children) up too fast,” Richmond said.

She said the class will be helpful in answering parents questions about age appropriate behavior for their children.

“I would encourage anybody that has any questions to attend,” Richmond said.

She said the opportunity for parents to speak face-to-face with a specialist is something that doesn’t come up very often in the Woodward area.

If you would like to take advantage of this opportunity, then contact the Woodward County OSU Extension Office at (580) 254-3391 to reserve your spot. Seating is limited, Richmond said, so it is important that you register.