ECP focuses on children

When sophomore Amelia Reiling witnessed friends being bullied and harassed, she didn't just stand by and watch -- she decided to do something about it. That's when she learned about Educating Children for Parenting.\n"I got interested in Educating Children for Parenting when I would observe friends of mine being sexually harassed and bullied," Reiling said. "It bothered me to see people disrespecting others."\nECP is an empathy program focusing on eliminating bullying, teen pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse and other problems affecting children and teenagers, according to the ECP Web site. Reiling is the driving force behind the campaign to get the program implemented in Bloomington and surrounding areas.\nReiling said the ECP has been very successful because unlike many other programs, its process is done in three steps -- plan, do and reflect. First, students must make predictions about a monthly parent-infant class visit by preparing questions to ask the parent and design and select the activities they will use to test their assumptions and predictions. They work together to plan a safe environment for the visiting baby. \nThe second step is the visit wherein students observe the relationship between the infant and parent. And the final step is to reflect and discuss their impressions and what they have learned, applying the concepts to their own relationships.\nReiling said the program hinges on the idea that parenting and empathy are learned skills.\n"By interacting with the baby, students become more empathetic and caring," said David Estell, faculty sponsor for the campaign. "The program hinges on the idea that parenting and empathy are learned skills, and once children recognize the role they play in caring for each other, they are much less likely to act aggressively toward others."\nReiling said the program is also successful because it not only provides an isolated event for students to relate to, but it also encourages schools to implement the ECP curriculum across all the academic fields, including math, science, history and language arts.\n"The program has a long-term vision," Reiling said. "A year after the program is implemented, an ECP instructor is on-call with the teachers to make sure the program is implemented correctly and runs smoothly."\nReiling said she recently decided to start a campaign to get Bloomington schools involved in ECP. She is working hard to get people interested in the campaign and has been successful in getting some of her friends to join her in her work.\n"What really drew me to the program was the fact that we go to different elementary schools and interact with them," said Grace Akinleibola, ECP IU chairman.\nEstell said the campaign will function in the next few months by writing letters to educational leaders and making presentations to teachers at Indiana elementary schools in order to educate them about ECP.\n"My goal for ECP IU is to bring about awareness of the necessity for empathy programs and character education in schools," Reiling said.\nFor more information about ECP IU, visit www.indiana.edu/~ecp, or www.ecparenting.org.\n-- Contact staff writer Angela Graves at agraves@indiana.edu.