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Project Enlightenment- A Boylan Heights Parent’s Perspective

If you’re the parent of a young child – newborn through kindergarten age – you probably don’t know that you live within walking distance of a parenting goldmine: Project Enlightenment. Sure, there’s a fabulous, fenced-in playground with an ultra-cushiony mat beneath the slides and monkey bars. And you may know a neighbor whose child attends the pre-kindergarten class. But there are treasured resources for you too inside the brick building on Boylan Avenue.

Project Englightenment boasts an extensive children’s library and a cozy reading area with kid-size furniture, puzzles, blocks and toy animals. And there’s an even bigger collection of books for parents with tips on everything from how to cope with grief to getting your child to sleep. There are parenting videos and countless magazine articles too.

You can check out the books and videos at no charge (video rental requires a $10 refundable deposit) and read them at home. Or you can take your children and read there.

Doors open at 8:30 a.m. and close at 5 p.m., though once a month they stay open until 8 p.m.

Trained educators lead classes for parents throughout the school year as well. This fall, classes cover potty training, teaching siblings how to get along, taming anger in ourselves and our children, understanding and supporting the “spirited” or strong-willed child, and disciplining children, among others. Most of the classes are offered at night and require a fee.

Need information fast and free? Project Enlightenment also runs a hotline for the harried parent. TALKline – 856-7800 – is staffed limited hours during weekdays. The county bills TALKline as a telephone service to “listen to your problems, questions, and concerns about children birth through kindergarten age.”

Promotional literature for the service says “no issue is too small or unimportant.” That’s always a reassurance for worried parents hesitant to burden people with questions that they think others might dismiss as trivial. The service is open for moms, dads, grandparents, teachers and anyone else concerned about a young child.

After months of coaxing, I finally visited the center last month. I’m sorry I didn’t go sooner. Our daughter is 16-months-old now and I think of all the questions I had when she started growing: How do I help her sleep? Do other babies nurse this often? How do we deal with separation anxiety? Whoa, what’s this, a temper tantrum? What do I do now? With the library, videos, TALKline and parenting classes, the answer likely would have been quick to come by.

Realtors should use Project Enlightenment as a selling point when they’re trying to get young parents to buy in the neighborhood. It’s that good.

Plus, I haven’t even mentioned the craft center. For a small fee, you can create artwork, crafts and homemade toys worthy of Martha Stewart’s approval. Esme and I made a pull-toy for a whopping 70 cents. We brought the shoebox and used the center’s construction paper, glue, tape, string and stencils. If you want to get fancy, there are jingle bells, magnetic sheets and wiggle eyes.

Call ahead if you’re interested in making something (856-7804), groups sometimes reserve use of the center in advance.

Anne Sherman, outreach coordinator at Project Enlightenment, wants to give a private tour of the center to Boylan Heights’ parents. And their friends too (The center is open to anyone from Wake County). If you’d like to check it out, let me know. I’ll try to coordinate a group tour, perhaps one night at 6 or 6:30 p.m. so working parents can attend.

Sherman also suggested that the center could host a special story night. Kids could show up in their pajamas, visit with friends and enjoy a bedtime reading. Sounds like fun, don’t you think?

Dana Damico

524 S Boylan

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