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CHATHAM, Ont. – Eva Unger, a mother of a 13-month old daughter and expecting her second child, loves the idea of making washable baby books that can be cuddled and chewed.

Two other ideas of special interest are sewing together colourful potholders that have familiar images and  making “touch and feel” cloth books. These books are made by cutting left-over fabric of different textures into different shapes and sewing them onto the pages of a cloth book.

“These are neat ideas,” said Unger, 22. “I like sewing and never thought about making my own books.”

She picked up the ideas at an early-literacy workshop offered through the Building Healthy Babies program at the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Help Centre in Chatham.  

Building Healthy Babies is one of many programs supported by MCC Ontario to help Low German Mennonite families returning to Canada from Latin American countries give their children the best possible start in life, said Maria Fehr, family support coordinator.  

“MCC supports programs like this because it helps families improve their interactive skills with their young children,” said Fehr. “Not only are the new ideas they pick up affordable, they are also simple and applicable.”

Early literacy does not mean learning to read early, explained Carrie Myers, a speaker at the workshop.

“It means snuggling with your baby, singing, pretending, rhyming, conversation and looking at books,” said Myers, a specialist in early literacy. “The more experiences babies have with music, rhymes, books and reading, the easier it will be for them to learn to speak and learn to read.”

In addition to learning new information at Building Healthy Babies workshops, Unger said she enjoys the social interaction with other mothers and their children.

“I was hesitant to come at first but I started coming because my sisters offered me a ride,” she said. “I decided to try it to see what I thought about it. Coming here is just something I look forward to—it brightens up the rest of the week.”

Her sisters, she said, had encouraged her to come because she was experiencing post-partum depression following the birth of her daughter.

“I had mood swings and everything made me cry,” she said. “It just kept on getting worse. It lasted nine months. I would not have gotten through it as fast if I did not have the social support that I get here. Hearing other women share their stories helped me realize I was not the only one feeling like this. That was really helpful.”

MCC Ontario has been working with Low German Mennonite families returning to Canada since the 1970’s. Initially the focus was to assist families with their Canadian status and with settlement and employment issues but it has since expanded to educational classes and programs for mothers and their preschool children.

Visit mcco.ca/lowgerman for more information about Low German Mennonites.

Gladys Terichow is a writer for MCC Canada