To think that I can go to this baby class?

A professor of linguistics would not find out any new information - they teach child language development in depth!

You’re getting very angry over a stranger.

These classes are for everyone and I think you should go, if they aren't used they stop running them. Unless you have to put your name down for a space your taking nothing from someone who is disadvantaged.

This. if you dont go they might stop running them.

I mean, you might learn something new and should be allowed to do that for your baby. Also the class might not be full. If someone with less knowledge’ is interested they’ll go on the next one. Weird.

Exactly. It's also positive for everyone to mix with people from different backgrounds. In the past, certain places were only for white middle class men, and some say you can still tell a person who has only ever mixed with someone like themselves. Encouraging everyone to feel welcome, regardless of class, race, religion or gender is important.
To an extent, I agree that baby classes are more for the mums/dads than for picking up specific skills (though one friend swears the massage class helped with colic), but that's not always a bad thing. Depression can strike a rich person just as much, and my HV said that professional women are less likely, on average, to have support systems, so the centres are especially important. She was very encouraging of all people using the classes-as she said, if they feel some groups should only be used by certain target groups, they'll say.
And some people make friends for life, and their children too, at these groups.

Lost me at ‘babies’ and ‘classes’. It’s only quite recently babies seem to need classes to do anything babies or small children have always done as part of natural development. Someone was telling me of their DD that takes a baby to one where they do music and shake rattles in their face or something. Seemingly, without this the child will never be musical. I guess Mozart and anyone else with talent before these classes missed the memo on that one🤣.

My kids never went to language classes. To be 100% honest, we just got them to watch Sesame Street every weekday as it had the letter and number of the day. That, together with a preschool a few days a week for school readiness purposes once they turned 3yo, did the trick. They all got into their desired uni courses (some of which were extremely competitive). They didn’t need classes as babies to achieve this, although I can’t speak to what may have been the case without Sesame Street🤣🤣🤣. I think a lot of the worry these days are from the parents own making.

Tough shit. OP and her baby are as deserving as any other mother and child. It is not her responsibility to put herself second to anyone else. If someone less well off wants their baby to benefit then they'll just have to get their names down first won't they? Like everyone else.

How would she be taking the opportunity away from someone else if the class isn't full?

This thread is bonkers. Councils run some targeted groups and classes, they will specify criteria or social workers etc will invite people who really need to attend. They also run classes that have no criteria, that anyone is free to attend. If people don't use these groups, councils will stop running them and those that truly need them in the future will miss out

To be a teacher, you’ve got a degree you’d understand basic stuff about language development you don’t need the class you’re taking it from someone who needs that for a bit of funThat’s what happens.

Rubbish! We don’t have sure start because all the funding was pulled.

Babies all over the world, since time immemorial, have learned to speak perfectly well without going to a class. The class is for parents who don’t realise they need to talk to, read to and generally pay attention to, their babies. You probably don’t come into that category. But it’s fine to attend for other reasons ie you want to socialise out of the house.

I would absolutely go.

If the class was advertised as being primarily for any particular group of people (criteria you didn't meet) then that would be different. But just because it's run by the council doesn't mean it's targeted at any group in particular! Would people say it's not fair to go to a spinning class in a council run leisure centre if you have a bike at home?

The Council would almost definitely prefer sufficient people attend to warrant running the class than people not attend because they think they might be taking a place away from others. If it was oversubscribed and they wanted to prioritise any particular group of people they could have done so, but they haven't.

For goodness sake, of course you are perfectly welcome to go. Your baby needs social contact with other people who are experiencing the same issue, as do you.

Enjoy x

I’m a teacher and I went to the free classes at the local family hub. I couldn’t afford to go to loads of posh, paid-for ones. The ones I went to were never full, so I didn’t worry about stealing a place from someone else.

I also want my child to mix with different people locally and not just grow up in a gentrified bubble where he only meets people who are the same social class as him. OP, as a teacher you probably know it can be damaging when people don’t mix properly. In my area it’s leading to a lot of school closures (mine might be next!). Don’t listen to your friend.

Also, how would you know how to support your baby’s language development any more than anybody else? When they’re 4, yeah maybe, but I didn’t have a clue about anything really when I had a baby because I don’t teach newborn babies.

Just talk to your baby, sing to her/him, show picture books and talk about the pictures. Classes may well be very good, certainly for meeting other parents, but hardly necessary if you’re able to do the above.

My reservation would be that it would be pitched at quite a low level, saying lots of common sense things like, speak to your baby, look at them while you talk, narrate what you do, read them stories, don't stick them in front of a screen, don't walk around with your headphones on. More like what you might consider basic parenting if you had a decent childhood yourself. There's a reason you're not the target demographic for the classes.

Unless the class is bursting at the seams, I really wouldn't worry about taking a spot from someone more deserving. 🙄If you want to go, do it! If it's funded by the council, your taxes are helping pay for it, after all.

My area is very affluent (I'm not actually from here, I'm from a poor city next door but due to homelessness and DV ended up here). Our schools PTA(?) does uniform sales very often & everyone buys uniform from there! It's great because I don't feel judged for it. In my actual area where I'm from, it would be frowned upon for sure.

Sometimes they need to prove the class is used by a minimum number of people to keep the funding for it so if it isn't over-subscribed they might welcome you regardless of need. Your baby will still benefit even if it's not quite making the difference it would for the target audience. But also I know teachers who give their own kids excess screen time so being a teacher doesn't seem to automatically mean you wouldn't need this class (I'm sure you don't give your baby smartphone time).

Your child is hard wired to learn language and you don't need a special class for it. All you need to do to support your baby's language development is talk to him/her. A lot. And read him/her books from the get go. You think Shakespeare's mother went to special language classes?

None of this is relevant if the classes are offered to all new mothers free of charge.

That’s a bit like saying that because i` have multiple degrees in English/Lit my children didn’t need to go to school to learn to read and write, isn’t it?

Book your place and go. You’ll learn lots to support your child and to embed practical applications of knowledge in a way that may inform your teaching practice.

I don’t think you’d be wrong to go, but I’m not sure how useful it would actually be to you. Obviously I don’t know the specific class you’re referring to, but the ‘language development’ group ran by our council really isn’t aimed at parents wanting to do ‘as much as they can’, but rather those who have no
idea what to do.

I volunteered at a breastfeeding group, and we followed on from the language development group. I was often there getting easy when the language group was running.
It was a BRILLIANT resource for the community, but the focus was more prevention/early correction of poor and/or ill informed parenting. There was heavy focus on encouraging reading to your child, the children were given a copy of Dear Zoo one week, and several parents queried why they needed to read to a child who didn’t yet understand. Crayons were handed out one week, to encourage mark making. Lots of the parents said they didn’t gave them at home, because they thought their child was too young. There was also a great emphasis on talking to your child, even through they can’t talk back. Every week they tried desperately to get the parents to sign up for the local library, and encourage those who’d they’d managed to previously sign up to use it, attend the rhyme time groups etc.
There was amazing resources for parents whose children were struggling with speech, partly because English was their parents’ second language. They also were brilliant at trying to build the confidence of parents with low literacy skills themselves, so that they would feel more comfortable reading with their children.

As I say, it was an amazing offering, and those that needed could get so much out of it. I’m not sure there would be any real benefit to everyone through. I believe although, I could be wrong, they eventually changed it to referral only, and you had to contact them with concerns, or get your health visitor to sign you up.

Because it didn't improve outcomes in targeted groups. This isnt only true of Sure Start but also similar programs.