Shavonne Pocock / Scroll Dan Claunch, a senior from Rexburg, takes notes in his child development class. He said he is taking the class to help improve his parenting skills.

Students learn to be successful spouses, parents from child development courses

by Brianne Beard BEA01004@BYUI.EDU Scroll Staff

One child is crying, another is wandering after his occupied mother and yet another is begging for a treat from the food court.

The father has a bewildered look on his face and is oblivious to his children’s demands.

Is there anything that he could have done to prepare himself for this responsibility?

BYU-Idaho’s Department of Child and Family Studies seems to think so. A course entitled “child development” is offered as a preparatory class for future parents and Family Science majors.

The Department of Child and Family Studies has a dual mission: (1) To prepare students for careers related to children and families, and (2) To prepare students to be successful spouses, parents and contributing citizens, according to www.byui.edu.

Upon entering a child development classroom, students will find not only those of child-bearing capability but their supporters as well: daddies. Many boys enroll in child development to fulfill their general education requirements or perhaps just to accept the advice of 35 adamant women on the appropriate way to raise a child.

But whatever the reason, boys are finding themselves better prepared for fatherhood after participating in the class. Just ask Joel Kent, a sophomore from Newdale, Idaho, and Levi Owen, a junior from Idaho Falls. This duo represents two-thirds of the male population in Kathleen Gee’s 11 a.m. child development class. Both Kent and Owen already have children, but decided that extra training couldn’t hurt.

“I’ve learned a little more about the technical side of child development and am able to understand what my daughters are going through and how I can better help them,” Kent said.

The class will not only help these daddies better understand their children, but also help with any future problems they may encounter.

“We were really lucky to have such an easy-going child, but I think that the class will help in the future with any unexpected problems,” Owen said.

The course provides an overview of child development from birth through adolescence and is jam-packed with personal examples, functional anecdotes and suggestions to provide applicable information for later use, according to the CHILD 210 syllabus.

Owen and Kent both agreed that the course validates many of the practices they were introducing to their children, such as scheduling bedtime, maintaining discipline and mealtime regulation. The men also said that they had developed a greater appreciation of their wives and the sacrifice and responsibility they undertook when deciding to have children.

“I have been more and more open to my wife’s suggestions about how we should raise our daughters. I have also been helping out a lot more, and my wife likes that,” Kent said.

So for all those potential daddies out there, remember that child development is a way to better prepare for children, not to mention impress the wife.

“I think that the class is worthwhile. Potential fathers will be able to take into consideration things that they could be worried about and realize that there are many options and ways to do things [when rearing their own children],” Owen said.