Sure, it takes a village to raise a child, but even the most experienced villagers need a little refresher now and then.
Steven Wahlquist has raised three children of his own, and when given the opportunity to look after his first grandchild, he enthusiastically agreed. But not without first learning how to be a grandparent.
"I didn't remember everything about babies, and so much has changed anyway," the Stillwater man said while feeding 8-month-old Arianna Dahl a bottle.
So Wahlquist, 57, and his wife signed up for the New Grandparents class at Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater to learn the ropes of grandparenting. Despite the fact that babies are pretty much the same as they've always been, grandparents like the Wahlquists are enrolling in classes to discover changes in labor and delivery, and how to care for a newborn.
"Now they say babies should sleep on their backs, not stomachs," he said. "And they say no screen time until the child turns 3 -- all new things to me."
Prenatal classes for grandparents are designed to give expecting grandparents skills that combine their wealth of knowledge and experience with modern ideas and practices. Much has changed in the 30 years since many of today's grandparents raised their own children. For one thing, grandparents are more involved.
Among grandparents in their 60s and 70s, 51 percent say they have helped their adult children with child care in the past year, according to a 2009 Pew Research survey. And according to Grandparents.com, 72 percent of grandparents care for their grandchildren on a regular basis.
"Now entire families embrace the new baby," said Maureen Tumulty, a longtime labor and delivery nurse, and coordinator of the childbirth education program at Lakeview Hospital. "It's more family-oriented now, with the whole family waiting at the hospital for the arrival of the baby and some families even in the delivery room. It's a family event and celebration from the first day of pregnancy."
