First-time parenting can be a bit daunting, but it needn't be if you join your local Parents Centre. This week has been National Parents Centre Week, a week to celebrate more than 60 years of parents' centres nationwide.
Rotorua Parents Centre can be found at the Linton Park Community Centre, Kamahi Pl. It moved into the former bowls club at the end of 2011 and has emerged as the place to go to interact with other parents and let your child run wild.
Most parents will be introduced to the parents centre before their child is born. The Rotorua centre is the main provider of childbirth education - or antenatal classes.
The centre runs a six-week course for new parents called Baby and You and then there is a three-week course called Moving, Munching and Toymaking. Each course is relevant to the different stages a baby will go through. There are hot topic nights and seminars and the centre also runs the biennial secondhand kids gear sale as a fundraiser.
The Rotorua centre sends out a newsletter every couple of months along with a copy of Kiwiparent magazine and it is also a supplier of amber teething beads.
But wait, there's more.
Each week during terms parents can visit the centre for weekly music and movement and playgroup sessions.
Music and Movement is on Mondays from 9.30am, while playgroup is on Fridays at the same time. Sessions are free for parents centre members and $2 for non-members.
First-time mum Peta Anderson has been a member of the Rotorua Parents Centre since January last year, when daughter Sophie was born. She took part in their childbirth education classes in the lead-up to her birth and is now the centre's treasurer.
"Parents Centre gave me an excuse to get out of the house," Peta said.
"Even though she [Sophie] couldn't play with anything at the time it was good for me to meet other parents and give me a break from home. Now she's an age where she can enjoy it, which is good. I'm now on the committee as treasurer so I'm quite involved. I also help organise activities."
She said she would have sat at home "twiddling her thumbs" had she not decided to get involved in the centre.
"Those early months I wouldn't have got out of the house very much and would have been a bit lonely."
She said her antenatal class still met up regularly and there was a core group of eight.
"I would definitely recommend the Parents Centre to other parents, it's a good place to socialise, there are great activities and the kids are entertained during the week. The venue is fantastic for playgroup with the playground and the bikes on the green - it's bigger than most people's gardens. People are in the same situation as yourself and you can compare notes."
There are 51 Parent Centres nationwide and it is the largest parenting-based infrastructure and network to support parents and their children in New Zealand. The primary objectives are community support and community education.
Parents can receive support in any area in which it's needed - examples are sudden infant death syndrome, parents in prison, teenage parents, sudden antenatal death, miscarriage support, breastfeeding, child development, toy libraries, playgroups, creches and special needs.
Parent education focuses on creating an environment where children will thrive and be nurtured through effective parenting.
The Parents Centre movement started in 1952 due to a demand in improved birthing practices for women and antenatal and postnatal care for parents. It is operated from its founding base of Wellington and has more than 3500 volunteers nationally.
The Rotorua Parents Centre is always looking for new members and volunteers. It is self-funded and carries out a range of fundraising through the year. It is also keen to hear from anyone interested in becoming a childbirth educator.
These educators are all certificated through Aoraki Polytechnic to diploma level.
Parents Centre was founded following a strict regime surrounding childbirth and neonatal care in the 1940s where mothers were encouraged to follow a strict feeding regime.
Psychiatrist Dr Maurice Bevan-Brown was horrified by what he learned and joined forces with Dr Enid Cook. Together they advocated much more relaxed styles of parenting which were responsive to the needs of the individual child rather than adhering to strict routines and Dr Cook informed parents-to-be about natural childbirth.
Their ideas were viewed with great scepticism by the medical profession but they made a profound impression on the people who were to become the founders of the Parents Centre movement. Helen and Quentin Brew were amongst these. She was a woman who possessed enormous drive and determination and from her belief in natural childbirth and the need for more loving and enlightened parenting, emerged a group called the Natural Childbirth Group, to become in June 1952, Wellington Parents Centre.
An extract from Helen's first report as president of Wellington Parents Centre in March 1953 sums up the goals of the first Parents Centre and what was to become the Parents Centre movement.
"Our concern for the improved care of mothers in pregnancy and labour is not directed solely towards a more satisfying birth experience as an end in itself, but also towards providing the mother and child with the best beginning for their mutual relationship, upon which is based so much of the child's later emotional health.
"For the same reason the Parents' Centre is interested in 'rooming-in', breastfeeding, the permissive approach to early child care, and any other practices which are likely, by improving parent-child relationships, to improve the happiness and mental health of the next generation."
To find out more about Rotorua Parents Centre visit www.parentscentre.org.nz/rotorua, email rotorua@parentscentre.org.nz or phone (07) 345 3111 for general inquiries.
Additional information from the parentscentre.org.nz.