Community Knowledge Centre - Toronto Community Foundation

About this organization

Mission

The Parent Child Mother Goose Program is committed to family and community wellness.  It fosters parent-child bonding through a rich oral language experience, producing a warm social and emotional environment for developing the confidence of parents and the nurturing of children. The Parent Child Mother Goose Program supports the strengthening of families and communities. It is further guided by the principles of diversity of language, culture and family structure. 

History of Organization

Twenty-five years ago local social workers and storytellers developed a program that brought at-risk parents and their infants together to coach attachment skills through the rich tool of oral rhymes and storytelling. After two pilot programs for Children’s Aid families dramatically demonstrated the effectiveness of the approach, the Parent-Child Mother Goose Program formed in 1986, gaining charitable status in 1987.

Today there are 6 core community programs in the GTA: five for infants and one for 2-4 year olds. The foundation of rhymes, songs and gestures allowed us to foster communication within families, with families who are new to Canada, and with special needs families.

As word of the program grew, requests came in to train more people in the philosophy and methods we work with. The Toronto office now provides training workshops to agencies across Canada that wish to provide the program in their communities. Through this training there are now 75 programs in the GTA offered at no cost in:

• Community health centres
• Newcomer support agencies
• Family resource programs
• Addiction support groups
• Ontario Cultural Society for the Deaf

To support and supplement training, the Parent-Child Mother Goose Program also develops print resources for program providers and for families.

Accolades and Accomplishments

The Parent-Child Mother Goose Program has been running programs to support families for over 20 years.

In a 2006 survey conducted by Family Resource Programs Canada entitled “Making Choices: Parenting and Parent-Child Programs that Fit” the Parent-Child Mother Goose Program was rated the most popular and effective program across Canada. From a list of seventeen programs we received more five star ratings by our colleagues and peers than any other program.

“Best I've found- for all cultures and socio-economic groups….My moms with post-partum depression, and living in poverty flourish in Mother Goose!!!!”
~Program teacher, independent Family Resource Program survey

The Parent-Child Mother Goose Program has great success working with newcomer families and is a pioneer in developing programs that support communication in the mother tongue as well as English language learning for parents and for children. We run a bilingual Somali program that is recognized by the Etobicoke Brighter Futures Coalition as an innovative model reaching people who otherwise do not access local resources.

Other accomplishments:

• Bounce Me Tickle Me Hug Me, a book of multicultural rhymes gathered from our programs was cited in the Best of 1997 list, Metro Central Library
• Mr. Christie’s Book Award for author Celia Barker Lottridge a founder of Parent-Child Mother Goose
• A Smooth Road to London Town was given to all Ontario families with babies by the provincial government through Ontario Early Years Centres
• Parents Choice Award for Sally Go Round the Sun/Moon, songs from our programs, Kathy Reid Naiman

Programs

>Parent-Child Mother Goose Core Programs
>The Moon is Round: Somali Parent-Child Mother Goose Program

The Parent-Child Mother Goose Program is a group experience for parents and their babies and young children, focusing on the power and pleasure of using rhymes, songs and stories together. Parents are helped to gain skills and confidence which enable them to create healthy family patterns during their children’s crucial early years. The program supports infant development, fosters communication within families, and helps forge friendships and a sense of community between families. The Parent-Child Mother Goose Program has an excellent reputation in its field and is run by qualified teachers and storytellers, educated in the principles and practices of the Program.

The Parent-Child Mother Goose Program has great success working with newcomer families and invites rhymes and stories from participants’ first language and culture. This allows families to share experiences and feel welcome while they also use and integrate English language and Canadian culture.

The Parent-Child Mother Goose Program reaches out to low income, isolated families and is committed to running programs in neighbourhoods with fewer resources. In focusing on relational interaction and social/emotional development, the program is supported by current research on infant development. All our programs are offered to families free of charge.

Parent-Child Mother Goose Core Programs

Parent-Child Mother Goose Core Programs run in Parkdale, Rexdale, Etobicoke centre and south and in Malvern. The program reaches out to low income, isolated families and is committed to providing services in neighbourhoods with fewer resources.

A high percentage of participants in these programs are newcomers to Canada. The Parent-Child Mother Goose Program has great success with newcomer families and supports communication in the mother tongue as well as English language learning for parents and for children. Adult participants, mostly women, feel comfortable in the program and develop a community.

The Parent-Child Mother Goose Program begins at the beginning with the relationship between parent and baby or young child, and uses the pleasure and power of rhymes, songs and stories taught orally in a group setting to foster emotional wellness and the conditions for lifelong learning. Parents attend with their babies and young children and receive skills and support they can use at home.

Each program runs one morning a week for three 10 week terms per year. A nutritious, age-appropriate snack is provided. Transit funding is available to participants who might otherwise not be able to attend. There is no cost to the participants.

Funding and Program Partners

• City of Toronto, Community Partnerships Program
• Shum Vourkoutiotis Fund, Toronto Community Foundation
• Wolinsky Foundation
• Paloma Foundation
• Elmbank Community Centre
• Parkdale Community Health Centre
• Taibu Community Health Centre

Program Impact

“Keep on supporting mothers this program. Helped me a lot as a new mom so I think it can do the same to other moms.” – Xirong Liu

Families living in high risk situations attend a high quality group language program in their own neighbourhood.

• Mothers bond with their babies
• Children build the foundations of literacy and learning
• Recent immigrant families make friends and learn about community resources
• A community is provided for parents who would otherwise be isolated
• Families and their communities integrate and share the art of storytelling
• Parents absorb child rearing skills
• Families attend the program free of charge

The Toronto Parent-Child Mother Goose Program involves over 2,000 participants per year.
The 6 Core programs are the central programs that support and mentor all of the other 75 programs in the GTA.

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

“Toronto continues to offer newcomers a poor quality of life. Immigrants…continue to face daunting challenges in obtaining employment and rich quality of life.”

“Toronto now has a picture of how ready its young children are to start school, and a disproportionate number in some high-risk communities continue to experience multiple challenges:

The Early Development Instrument (EDI), which measures physical well-being, social, emotional and cognitive development and communication skills, has now been used to assess learning readiness in two cohorts of kindergarten children across all four Toronto school boards. Used in conjunction with other measures, such as learning outcomes and demographic information, the EDI provides communities with a powerful planning and analysis tool. 60 of Toronto’s 140 neighbourhoods (43%) are judged to be at higher risk of having children with lower EDI scores (based on factors such as income and unemployment levels, percentage of immigrants and lone parent families). In a dozen high-risk neighbourhoods, disproportionately located in the Northwest, children have among the highest proportion of low scores in the City, and will be particularly vulnerable in the first critical years of schooling.” (Toronto’s Vital Signs®, 2009)

Participant Vignette

“Sandra and the staff are so caring and kind…I am a first-time mom without family support and experiencing post-partum depression. I enjoy Mother Goose for the opportunity to socialize with other parents and share parenting tips. It’s a once-weekly special-time where I’m fully in the moment enjoying my son…The rhymes and stories are so unique and touching, I sing the songs I learn to my 9-month old son every night, that is how he falls asleep. The Mother Goose experience will stay with us for the rest of our lives. I hope other families in the future have the chance to benefit from this one-of-a-kind program.”

“…as a single parent I found it very hard raising my son…I used to hit my son though I didn’t want to…Now when I get angry at him I do a nursery rhyme and it makes us both feel better.”

“Babies show they can listen to and respond to language. I think it will help with literacy skills as my son grows.”

“I really enjoy listening to stories. Made me re-realize the power of storytelling.”

“The Parent-Child Mother Goose Program is a vital and meaningful program for parents especially here…where language barriers and economics may isolate new parents. For us, the program and the leaders made us feel welcome, were kind and caring and very resourceful. We got so much out of it for just an investment of one home outing a week but the knowledge and confidence building we gained from the songs we learned and the stories we heard will last a lifetime!”

“This program has really been a lifesaver!”

The Moon is Round: Somali Parent-Child Mother Goose Program

Somali women, their babies and young children meet on Tuesday mornings in the community room of a Toronto Community Housing building in north Etobicoke. They sit in a circle with babies on their laps and share rhymes, songs and stories in both the Somali language and in English. The teachers, trained in the Parent-Child Mother Goose Program, speak both Somali and English and introduce rhymes in both languages. Babies and young children absorb, learn and enjoy the rhymes. Women receive support with parenting and communication. The women feel comfortable here and ask many questions about life in Toronto. They share stories and support each other in their lives which are often tremendously challenging.

The teachers are women from the local Somali community who are very committed to supporting their own community. Through the Etobicoke Brighter Futures Coaltion, these women received training from the Parent-Child Mother Goose Program and are now certified teachers with paid employment.

The Etobicoke Brighter Futures Coalition recognizes this as an innovative program reaching women who otherwise do not access local resources.

Funding and Program Partners

• Etobicoke Brighter Futures Coalition
• Midaynta Community Services
• Toronto Community Housing

Program Impact

Somali women and their babies who would otherwise be isolated come together in a supportive community. The program draws on a rich Somali oral tradition and the parents enjoy and become familiar with English interwoven with Somali language and culture. Parents use their mother tongue as well as English with their babies in order to foster communication, connection and language learning for themselves and their children. Babies and children feel comfortable in a group language program and build the foundations of literacy and emotional health. Children learn skills that help them when they start school. Families make a bridge into Canadian culture and have an opportunity to share their stories with the larger world.

”Since I am new in Canada it helped me learn a new culture and I didn’t feel alone.”
~Parent-Child Mother Goose Program participant

In their feedback, participants expressed special appreciation for getting out and seeing other parents and children as well as for the rhymes and stories. They also said they don’t like their children to be isolated at home and they feel they are learning something when they come to the program.

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

”Earnings gap between immigrants and Canadian-born workers is linked to language and skills proficiency.”

"One third of the children starting kindergarten in the Toronto District School Board speak a language other than English or French.”

“The Early Development Instrument (EDI) … provides communities with a powerful planning and analysis tool. In a dozen high-risk neighbourhoods, disproportionately located in the Northwest, children have among the highest proportion of low scores in the City, and will be particularly vulnerable in the first critical years of schooling.”

“Toronto continues to offer newcomers a poor quality of life. Immigrants…continue to face daunting challenges in obtaining employment and rich quality of life.”

(Toronto’s Vital Signs®, 2009)

Participant Vignette

One parent who came with her baby continued to attend as she had more children. Her older boy started kindergarten, where the teacher was impressed with his listening and language abilities and asked the mother where she had been sending her child. Another parent noticed herself that her son was much more comfortable starting school than his older sibling who had not attended the program. The children were familiar with an enjoyable group program by the time they started school and the mothers were so pleased and proud!

The mothers really enjoy each others company. These women are dealing with a lot of real difficulties and the time spent talking with each other is important to them. They cover any number of topics including living as a single parent (a high percentage of them), child-rearing questions, the effects of violence in their neighbourhood and discussions about Canadian politics and civil engagement.