The task of finding parents with
young children to participate sometimes seems discouraging. Many
parents are working full or part time outside the home and cannot participate.
Some parents feel uncomfortable about visiting with the elderly.
Yet many parents do want to participate in this most rewarding experience.
Where does one begin?
1. Seek out places where
parents of young children are apt to go. Places such as grocery stores,
libraries, laundromats, children's toy and clothing stores, fabric or craft
stores, Gymboree or Kindergym facilities, and YMCA's are great places to
post flyers and leave brochures. It is a good practice to ask permission
from the store operator or manager to leave the flyers. You can also
try contacting Welcome Wagons or similar organizations that greet or help
out people who are new to an area. Parents who have recently moved
to a new area are usually eager to meet new people. Call your Chamber
of Commerce or Realtor's Association for names of welcoming groups in your
city.
2. Arrange to visit programs
involving parents and young children, to talk to them briefly about Project
Caressing. Hospitals and YM (or W) CA's often have New Parenting
programs, or baby exercise programs, which are ideal places to start recruitment.
Be sure to bring plenty of attractive brochures to hand out to interested
persons. (See Note 1)
3. Mail out a brochure and
a typewritten ad of a few lines, along with an attached cover letter to
various churches and community civic groups, so that they too can help
recruit participants. The letter should basically explain the program
and include a request that they publish the ad in their bulletin, or post
it on an information board, if they have one.
4. Last, but certainly not
least, tell friends and relatives with young children about the program.
Note: When you are recruiting, focus
on parents of children aged three months to two years. Children older
than two may not adapt to the program as easily as the younger ones.
There are children in the program up to four years old, but these children
started in it before they were two. We feel they do well in the program
because they have grown with it.
