The Co-op Shop

Kimberley McGee

Thursday, April 1, 1999 | 9:53 a.m.

Jeff Simons takes the morning off from his job as a steel engineer to dole out snacks, read books and tie shoes.

It's his first day and he's a little nervous.

"My wife, to tell you the truth, does this more than I do" he says.

It's his turn to play teacher to his 4-year-old son, Nicholas, and his classmates in the Kid's Co-op preschool class in Las Vegas, where the concept for parents is to understand and respect the children, be involved with all they are learning and, most of all, have fun.

"It is hard having to actually teach my son and actually step in (when) one of the kids is doing something wrong," Simons says of his initial reservations about being the teacher's aid. "But that's what (the co-op is) for, to be the teacher, to be the positive reinforcement."

What makes the co-op different from commercial preschools is that parents make up 85 percent of the faculty (there are three certified full-time teachers). They are required to have health and sheriff's cards to work twice a month at the school; attend monthly meetings to discuss school functions; and -- what most co-op parents praise -- to attend early childhood development courses, which give them a better grip on what their children are going through.

Anyone can enroll in the preschool for 2 -to 4-year-olds, located in the United Methodist church on North Rancho Drive. Its three daily classes teach between six and eight students each. The nonprofit school's tuition starts at $80 a month for two days a week of instruction, from 9 a.m. to noon.

Simons says

After the first hour of wiping noses and handing out toys, Simons settles down to paint with his son and the five other kids in the class, whom he knows from past co-op family outings.

"So far, it's been great," he says, wiping his hands on the colorful craft apron he donned for the day. "Your son sees you in the classroom and they know you participate with what they are doing, and you hold being there with everybody (important)."

Simons and his son finish their art project, a large colored and glittered paper egg, of which both are proud.

"Most of the time I just see the artwork come home and I say, 'Oh, that's nice,' but I don't actually participate with him," Simons says. He plans to post the Easter project at work to remind him of their day together.

"You have to make time. You can get so busy with work, but it's only from 9 to 12," he says, adding that co-op involvement reminds him of how important it is to take time, every day, for family.

But it's not all milk and cookies. When the day is done, Simons grabs a yellow mop pail and gets to work on the paste and crumbs that pepper the floor, while another parent-turned-teacher for the day wipes down tiny chairs with disinfectant.

Simons doesn't mind: "You know it's clean because all the parents are cleaning up after their kids."

Know thy neighbor

The co-op provides a safe feeling that other preschools don't, Simons says.

"A parent's worst fear is leaving your kid in someone else's care," Simons says. "Here, you know the (teachers) more than your neighbors."

Parents say the co-op provides a virtual neighborhood not found anywhere else in the community.

"Now when you come home, you drive into your garage, you go into your house and spend time in your back yard, so you don't socialize with your neighbors and get to know people," says Cheryl Ghirlando, a stay-at-home mom of two who, when she's not busy, volunteers 40 hours a week as president of the co-op.

"The bonding in class, it's like having aunts and uncles, extended family right there, because you are all familiar to each other and the kids," Ghirlando says as she wades through the 3-year-olds' class. The students hold up their artwork for her to see.

When a little boy comes home and regales his parents with tales about a little red-haired girl, parents know the child, the child's parents and the history behind the stories, Ghirlando says.

"The difference, primarily, is that when my son comes home and talks about Alison, who brought something in for (show and tell), and about their friends and what they are doing, I know these other families and how it all fits," Ghirlando says. "You get to know everybody by working together so closely."

This extended family feeling comes from the parents' extensive involvement with their child, and the other parents' children on a weekly basis as they pick them up and drop them off at school, and help out at the co-op.

"It gives me a sense of satisfaction that I am not only being a parent at home, but sending my kids to a place where I get to partake in parenting when I'm at work," says Kit Graski, first vice president of the realty company CB Commercial Richard Ellis, and father of 3-year-old Kyle.

The families keep a close bond outside of the co-op, sharing babysitters, car pools and parenting tips as their little ones grow up.

"At a normal preschool, you never meet any of the other parents, so there certainly is no sense of the extended family," Graski says, adding that he had just been camping with another co-op family.

"It's kind of like a small family here. It's very cozy," says Lisa Fitzgerald, also known as Miss Fitz, a co-op teacher and past co-op mom. "I think our city is getting so big, and I miss the small town. This is a little bit of small town left. It helps to know who your kids are being exposed to at such a young age."

Her 5-year-old son, Adam, now in first grade at a local elementary school, cuts out yellow ovals to help his mom prepare for the next day's class.

"The older kids love to come back into the classroom," she says as Adam is liberated from his cutting project and runs over to the large toy chest in the corner. "They want to paint, they want to play because they are not getting that in the elementary school because they just don't have the time."

Teach to learn, learn to teach

Simons says the hour-long parenting classes help him understand his child and respond in a "positive way, instead of negative."

"It opens your mind to the (kids') level," he says. "You know what they are thinking and what you should say and do."

They use words such as "borrow" instead of "take" or "have," and are taught to respect their children, and the children are taught to respect them.

"It gets hectic for everybody and when you come home from work and you maybe had a bad day, you don't take it out where you are yelling (at family members) or not giving them your time," he says.

Even after leaving the co-op, parents and students can continue applying what they've learned. Fitzgerald says it helped her make the most of her children's public school education without feeling pushy and unsure.

"As a parent, I have felt very comfortable going to the elementary schools, talking to the teachers, working in the classroom and being able to take direction from a teacher," she says.

When Marti Bryan chose the co-op preschool for her son, Kyle, she found the parental involvement and high level of education for toddlers a rarity.

"When I looked into (other) preschools, it was pretty much like a drop-off" place, and cost hundreds of dollars more, she says, adding: "The parents weren't required to help out."

The co-op's small ratio of kids to faculty makes the lessons learned stick, she says. "There's only six in the class, so they learn how to share, not to use violence, but words to negotiate for what you want."

As the young mom of a robust 3-year old, she says the co-op parent network, as well as the parenting classes, gave her, an elementary education student, and her husband more confidence in raising their son.

"You learn different behaviors, the different elements of the age groups and what they are going through, what to expect," Bryan says.

She especially likes the community college professors of child development who volunteer to teach the parenting classes. "You never stop learning, even with your own kids," Bryan says.

Cindy Warlick noticed the difference in her parenting skills after she and her second child, 4-year-old Zachary, joined the co-op, as compared to her style raising 10-year-old daughter Megan, who attended a commercial preschool.

"They are learning language at this age, and here there's more (focus on) socialization and learning to use words instead of anger," Warlick says. "We use (words) in a more positive way when (we) are frustrated. That's a difference my daughter didn't have."

Through the parenting classes, she is learning to communicate in a more "positive" way.

"(The classes) give you ideas on how to take care of things, especially when you are stressed," Warlick says while Zachary and his friend, Connor, run circles around her legs before heading back inside to play.

And all parents get stressed. Warlick says she is grateful for the time she can spend to exchange harried stories and vacation brochures with other co-op parents who can relate.

"When I pick up my daughter (at public school), I don't talk to anyone. You just pick up your kid and go home. Here, we all are just so close," she says.

Recently, one of the teachers shooed the milling mothers out of the fenced playground so that the parent-teachers could get to work cleaning.

"They've started herding us out of here because we spend too much time (talking)," Warlick says with a laugh and she gets her child, now squeaky clean after the day's finger-painting activities.

"It's just an enriching place to start out from, (to) raise your kids," she says.

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