Special Privilege
I had a special privilege on Friday. It was the first day of the SMART program. We have 17 mothers in the group and I think we might be adding one more. That is out of over 50 who inquired. Some didn't follow through and some didn't qualify.
This was the orientation for the program and we had a few speakers, financial aid, their English and College Skills instructors. Two of the mothers had brought their kiddos with them. I think we need to make it clear that this will NOT happen again. As cute as they were (and they both were cute!), it was just too much of a distraction, both to the other mothers and to themselves.
The seventeen month old wanted attention and his mother just kept sshing him, which was not at all effective. Finally one of our student-workers took him for a walk. Good move. The other baby was a nine month old, who had been born prematurely. Very prematurely. Like at 23 weeks. He weighed just over a pound at birth. So, though a nine month old would have been wiggly and wanting down, this little one was okay with staying in his stroller. At first. But the class was 2 hours long. That is asking a lot of a wee one. The mother was calm, but I could tell she was starting to worry about how this was going and if her son might be a distraction to the others. I offered to take him and she gladly accepted.
At first, he was interested in my jewelry, which was fine, but then his little eyelids started to drift. Try as he might, he was losing the battle. I bounced and I rocked and I adjusted his position until he seemed most comfortable. And he fell asleep on my shoulder. I could smell the lovely scent of baby oil in his hair, feel the faint sweat on his curls as he nestled in my neck. What a privilege. What memories it brought back, what hopes for the future.
Comments
Now Maman, tell me these women are also offered childcare as part of the program, right?
Posted by: Mara | August 28, 2006 5:57 AM
They are. The gap was because, though we arranged for Childminders to cover our Friday seminars, Childminders wasn't open yet. The semester starts today, so does childcare. The other problem is that Childminders is not licensed to take children under the age of 2, so therefore, neither of these two are eligible to go there. So these mothers have to make their own arrangements. Both are eligable for childcare vouchers from the state to take to private childcare providers. The problem there is that it only covers while the women are at approved activities, ie. credit classes or work. The Women's Center class on Fridays is neither. We have worked with the Lake County Dept. of Job and Family Services and they have seen the light and will cover the classes, but the same can not be said for Cuyahoga County. And it seem to be very patchwork; some case workers will authorize coverage and some won't. As always, it is never simple.
Posted by: Ma | August 28, 2006 9:41 AM