Together Time was developed by a Early Childhood Development and Education Center occupational therapist to help build healthy relationships between parents and/or caregivers and their young children.
The program focuses on everyday activities as a way of increasing parent-child attachment through daily routines (i.e. mealtime, bathtime, bedtime, etc.). It is structured around five daily activity themes over 10 sessions and is strongly rooted in occupational therapy, emphasizing the “work” of daily living. The program design meets the needs of the mothers, fathers and caregivers by creating groups of peers to address issues of isolation and empower members; using everyday activities to target specific knowledge and skill gaps; emphasizing the power of positive parent-child interactions; teaching and learning with immediate feedback; and teaching tasks in small, manageable parts.
The Together Time manual, facilitator’s guides (one for center-based groups and one for individual/home-based use), activity instructions, and parent education handouts were all created so that they could be easily adapted to fit the needs of different organizations working with different populations of families with young children. A Together Time poster about the program was, also, created as a tool to present on the program at conferences, trainings and workshops (see attached poster). Additionally, a Together Time website has been developed so that we can more easily share our materials and ideas with caregivers working with children in many different settings.