Couple helps parents TEACH

Amid the scores of parenting books filling shelves in local bookstores, an Albany couple have added their own contribution: "Togetherness through Enjoyable Activities with Children at Home," or "TEACH."

The spiral-bound book and video set explores activities that parents can do with their children, using simple materials and errands to encourage motor, perceptual and social development.

"TEACH" creators Antoinette and Patrick Renzi, parishioners at St. John's/St. Ann's parish in Albany, have four young children of their own: Michael, 13, Frankie, 6, Theresa, 4, and Eileen, eight months. Mrs. Renzi is a former teacher at the Center for the Disabled; Mr. Renzi works for the New York State Legislature as a photographer and media consultant.

Help for home

As she met the parents of her students, Mrs. Renzi often encountered questions like: "How can I help my child at home? How can I get him to recognize numbers, or learn the alphabet?"

"They always said, `At school, you get more out of him than I do at home,'" Mrs. Renzi remembered.

When two friends, both business professionals, became pregnant, they worried about how to educate their child. Mr. Renzi thought, "If people like this, who are very well-educated, need help, there's a market out there" for educational materials.

Parents as teachers

The couple agreed that parents need to see themselves as teachers, becoming aware of how they can encourage their child's development. They decided to put together some materials for parents to use with their children, based on ideas they had used in their own home. The result was "TEACH," the first effort of a project the Renzi's call "Caring About Tomorrow."

The slim book includes about 200 activities for parents to do with children from infancy to age three. Each idea has three levels, so that as children learn the activity, they can add new skills.

At the end of every page, "TEACH" includes a brief explanation of what the child has learned, a parenting tip and space for parents to write about their time with their children. Since the book is written for parents, there is no jargon or terminology.

Fun with kids

"Having a child is work -- but it's fun," Mrs. Renzi stated. "I want my kids to have as much fun as they can have at the age they're at. The activities in this book turn into a bond between parent and child. I don't want anybody to say this is a workbook. This is an activity book, a fun book!"

Even infants can get a workout in the pages of "TEACH." For example, in the activity titled "Close-Ups," for newborns to six-month-olds, parents hold their baby close while moving it left and right, teaching it to follow the motion with eye movement.

At a higher level, parents can speak or sing while moving, so that their child follows them using sight and hearing. The Renzi's say that activities using more than one of the five senses are best.

Activities for toddlers turn simple household items into teaching tools. Cutting up the picture on the front of a cereal box turns it into a puzzle; an old sock becomes a hand puppet.

Quality time

The couple are firm believers in "quality time."

"A child can have more quality time in three minutes than 30 minutes, based on what you're doing," Mrs. Renzi declared. The book, she said, is "much like a lesson plan, but pretty casual. It's teaching the child how to problem-solve -- and teaching the parent how to have fun with the child without making it work for them."

The pair described a mother of three who wrote to them, overwhelmed with the responsibility of raising her children. "I love them dearly," she wrote, but worried that all her time was spent disciplining her children, instead of having fun with them. Mrs. Renzi was quick to reply that by involving the children in ordinary activities, work can become fun.

Having a good time

"Grocery shopping with children can be the most frustrating time," Mrs. Renzi explained. However, if one child holds coupons while another searches for items on shelves that match pictures on the coupons, the children are learning new skills.

A stop at the produce department, she said, can teach size, color and numbers: "Is this a fruit or a vegetable? What color is it? Let's see how many we're going to get."

"It takes the pressure off the parent, and the child is participating in shopping," she said.

Once parents and children begin the "TEACH" activities, the Renzis believe that children will become excited, coming up with ideas of their own.

Video adjunct

The approximately 30-minute "TEACH" video reminds parents repeatedly that the environment they provide in the first three years of their child's will have a great influence on his or her development. Interviews with Dr. Michael Looney, a pediatrician, and parents who talk about their love for their children alternate with tidbits of information and advice:

* By the age of one, children triple in weight, double in size and achieve 80 percent of their total brain growth;

* Children learn in three areas: motor skills (using the body), perceptual skills (using the senses) and social skills (interacting with people and their environment).

How to get it

About 4,000 copies of "TEACH" have sold already; Bellevue Hospital in Albany gives one to new mothers, and area Price Chopper supermarkets sell the set. The Renzis have created a web site to talk about their book, www.intelliscape.com/teach.

"The earlier you start [working with your child]," they said, "the better they're going to be. We want to give parents a head start."

(The "TEACH" book and video are available for $20.90 a set, including shipping and handling. Write to 4 Dartmouth St., Albany, NY 12209, or call 395-0925.) [[In-content Ad]]