ECFE

I joined Early Childhood Family Education this semester after a friend invited me to join the class she and her daughters were a part of. I was unsure at first because I had tried ECFE before. Ivar was only two months old, and I found myself bundling us up in the middle of winter to join other sleep deprived mothers. It is an awesome concept, but the room we met it had no actual seating, just low riding beach chairs, the kind that keep you two inches off the ground. I remember really struggling to get down that low while holding Ivar, and not being skilled enough at nursing to really work the "under the blanket" feeding while sitting on the floor with no boppy or arm rests. I remember my back hurt, Ivar's mood was hit or miss and I felt judged for not having Ivar sleep in bed with us (that's not an ECFE thing...just the particular mix of mom's in my class).

So I dropped out after a few weeks. It was just too exhausting.

But this time around I hit the jackpot. Not only do they have adult size chairs, but I landed in a group of mom's that I admire and respect. No one is trying to say the right thing. In fact, there are almost always a few tears shed. I call it my favorite coffee-date/play-date/therapy-session of my week.

We start out playing with our kids and this is a bit hilarious. Ivar always goes for this train. Always. And that's fine. Except that there is always a fun craft table set up with some creative thing to make. And no matter what I say to entice Ivar towards the glitter and glue fun, he will not leave his train. The teacher told me once, "Mom's can make a craft without their kid if they want..." But I have my pride you know.

Then we have circle time and read a story. And then the mom's go into another room for coffee and a parenting lesson/conversation while the kids play some more. Elsie is in another room for sibling care the whole time, and loves it in there. They feed her cheerios the entire time and if I say "we're going to ecfe!" she'll tell me, "Crakah!"

All this to say, if you're a mom looking for other mom's, try ecfe. It's not always going to be a good fit. But if you hit the jackpot you'll be so glad you tried it out.