Building Resilience for Parents and Children Through Community Early Childhood Playgroups

Being a parent of a young child is a joyful experience that can, at times, also be stressful. When parents are overwhelmed and cannot cope with stressors, they are not able to be the parents they want to be and their ability to positively respond to their children can be affected. Children of overwhelmed parents experience many stressors themselves, and in extreme cases, children can experience abuse, neglect, and separation from their families due to out-of-home placement. In this project, a facilitated community-based playgroup will be the vehicle to help families develop resilience. Playgroups can provide a place for children and parents to engage in stimulating experiences that can benefit child development. They can be a way to deliver not only play but support the whole family as well. The playgroup will help families build protective factors to strengthen the buffers they have for stressors. Families will be able to strengthen their social network, gain knowledge of child development, and learn about community resources. All families have some resilience but when they able to identify strengths and coping skills, their ability to bounce back from adversities increase. This project has developed a playgroup based off the research that will operate in established places in the community such as libraries, churches, and schools and will follow a provide opportunities such as free play, group activities, and opportunities for parents to engage with each other and develop a community