The Farrington And Singleton Families

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Nariya Farrington punches a text message into a toy cell phone. Two boys wrestle for a spot on the bench beside her.

Clutter surrounds the 3-year-olds: credit cards, rubber balls, a fireman’s hat, wooden blocks, half-naked dolls and neon green binoculars.

“That’s my seat,” one boy hollers.

“It’s mine,” shouts another before being knocked to the floor.

One flight down, in Room 123, Josh Singleton skips wildly to the unmistakable beat of the “Addams Family” theme song. Josh and friends race past classmates huddled over a glass aquarium and just barely miss knocking one girl off her sparkly high heels.

Bedlam reigns at the FPG Child Development Institute Child Care Program in Chapel Hill, N.C.

And the parents and teachers couldn’t be happier.

“Children learn through play,” explains teacher Latesha Foushee. “They actually don’t know that they’re learning, but they are all the time.”

Josh and fellow 5-year-olds, for instance, are blissfully unaware that teachers have embedded a lesson into the “Addams Family” lyrics.

“There’s Sunday and there’s Monday, there’s Tuesday and there’s Wednesday, there’s Thursday and there’s Friday and then there’s Saturday,” the group belts out. “Days of the week.”

Snap, snap.

Even the barely controlled chaos upstairs in Nariya’s classroom is learning in disguise. Counting blocks teaches math, catching a ball hones hand-eye coordination, and roleplaying helps introduce real-life concepts such as using money and communicating with computers and cellular phones.

But all this has another surprising benefit. Just as the youngsters don’t know they are being taught, most adults don’t realize that the children are getting a big boost in the lifelong quest for better health.

Many factors affect a person’s health. Age, heredity and access to medical care all contribute to well-being. Equally, if not more important, however, are factors such as early life experiences, housing, income, education, nutrition and physical activity. Good health, it turns out, is about much more than medical care.

“The data have clearly shown that high-quality early childhood education can make a big difference,” says Maggie Connolly, director of child care at the center, which was founded in 1966 and was formerly known as the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center. The problem nowadays, she adds, is demand far outstrips availability and quality day care is too pricey for many families.

Extensive research has shown that people with low incomes or less education, those living in substandard housing, unsafe neighborhoods or areas with limited access to healthy food and recreation, tend to die earlier and suffer more health problems throughout life.

Scientists believe the cycle begins even before birth. A child’s well-being is a strong predictor of adult health, and high-quality early interventions have been shown to make an enormous impact. Research shows that early childhood development can affect educational attainment, which is linked to lower rates of cardiovascular disease, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, smoking, drug use and depression.

One of the hallmarks of a strong child development program is the ability to monitor a youngster’s progression. Because of cost, few schools or day-care centers administer formal assessments. FPG, however, employs the “Ages and Stages” test regularly to measure each child’s growth.

“As a pediatrician, that’s a huge relief to me,” says Josh’s mother, Jennifer Singleton. “If there is a developmental issue there, it’s going to be picked up.”

Youngsters from economically disadvantaged families such as Nariya Farrington tend to benefit the most from early intervention, according to several studies, including research conducted by the FPG Child Development Institute, the research facility affiliated with the child-care center. But there is also evidence to suggest that children from middle-and upper-income families such as Josh Singleton also profit from the experience.

In many respects, the two children are worlds apart.

Nariya Farrington and her older sister, Nadiya, are being raised by a single, black mother whose ancestors worked as slaves on the rural stretch of land where they now live.

Kenita Farrington dropped out of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University eight years ago when she gave birth to her first child. Today, she earns a modest salary as a school secretary. Government subsidies to the family and to FPG cover most of the cost of day care, as well as school meals and health care for the two girls.

Money is always tight, forcing the family to make compromises. Farrington, who has struggled with weight issues and elevated blood pressure, knows how important it is to stay physically fit. She wants to re-enroll her older daughter in gymnastics classes, but can’t afford the $80-a-month fee.

Jennifer and Scott Singleton, a white couple, moved to a house on Morgan Creek four years ago, when he was offered a professorship at the University of North Carolina. Jennifer works three days a week as a pediatrician, which leaves time for her to spend with Josh and his older brother, Matthew, age 8. The couple spends nearly $1,000 a month at FPG and enjoys buying produce at a local farmers’ market.

Despite the obvious economic and cultural differences between the Farringtons and the Singletons, what is striking are their commonalities, especially when it comes to their children. Both fret about whether their youngsters are getting a sound education, making friends and developing healthy habits. Both say that exposing their children to culturally diverse experiences is a high priority.

“I’ve been to other day-care centers that are straight ghetto,” says Farrington. “They throw the kids in the room with some toys, soiled diapers, a TV and the adults go off and chitchat…At FPG my child actually has a curriculum.”

For the mothers in particular, having a safe, nurturing, stimulating environment for their children brings a peace of mind that enables them to pursue their own careers.

“Having a preschool you trust and that you know is taking care of your kids is such an enormous weight off of you,” says Jennifer Singleton. “Just alleviating the stress of that is huge.”

Ready For Kindergarden

Kenita Farrington initially resisted sending her children to day care.

“I was petrified,” she recalls. “My biggest concern was safety. Was somebody going to do something to my child and she’s not going to be able to tell me?”

But she became a convert after watching her first daughter, Nadiya, thrive during two-plus years at FPG.

“Kindergarten has gotten so much harder today,” says Karen Reid, Nadiya’s kindergarten teacher. “If they haven’t had experiences in a quality preschool they are behind. Nadiya was ready when she walked in the door.”

At the time, the family was struggling. Kenita Farrington worked the night shift and was pregnant with Nariya. When their apartment became infested with fleas, they moved in with her mother.

“You could not look at Nadiya and tell she was living under those circumstances,” recalls Reid. Setting Nadiya on a solid course “empowered her mother to be the best possible mother she could be. She knew that her daughter was being well taken care of when she was out looking for jobs.”

Nariya was born a month early, frail and burdened with health problems—eczema, asthma and a small hole in her heart, which was repaired this spring.

“It was even harder for me to let go of Nariya,” says Farrington. “She was an extra special delicate case.”

Farrington knew FPG was the only place she would send Nariya, though there was no guarantee she’d secure one of the coveted slots. Unemployed at the time, she received a slot in part because the family qualified for Early Head Start. Sensitive to stereotypes about black families receiving government aid, Farrington explains: “I’m using the system, not abusing the system.”

She was pleasantly surprised when FPG encouraged her to come and breastfeed Nariya as often as she wanted. “That mother-child bond is so important,” she says.

Since the day Nariya arrived at FPG as a 4-month-old, teacher Erin Webb has been watching over her. She administers Nariya’s inhaler, monitors her diet and knows when she is “clingy and lethargic or bouncy and playful,” as Farrington puts it. “I respect her opinion above my own sometimes.”

Although the playroom has a trove of toys, a long slender cardboard box that previously housed an attic ladder is the hot item on this particular morning. Nariya scooches inside behind three friends and tugs the lid as if it were a door to a secret, magical world.

Back in the classroom, Nariya and the other “Penguins” line up at two miniature sinks to wash their hands before sitting down to Rice Krispies, milk and canned peaches. Virtually every child is potty-trained and each youngster clears his or her place when finished eating.

“They’re responsible for everything that they’ve taken out,” says teacher Kate Melillo. “It gives them a sense of responsibility and independence and they learn that cleaning up is a way we take care of our things.”

The program has provided Nariya “with the structure she needed,” says her mother. “She needed routine, like when to take a nap, and boundaries and her own personal space. She takes pride in her cubby,” the cubicle where she stows clothes, artwork and personal treasures.

For the 2- and 3-year-olds, chairs are child-friendly 12 inches high, puzzles have knobs for easy maneuvering and the “housekeeping” area is bursting with colorful hats. Dressing up and mimicking adults “is a way for children to make sense of their world,” says Connolly.

By the time children reach ages 4 or 5, the chairs have grown to 16 inches, the costumes are more elaborate, a computer is added and the classroom is loaded with letters, words and books in preparation for kindergarten. Each day, Josh and 12 fellow “Peacekeepers” present a drawing and caption from their journal. Some need help writing, but Josh pens his own.

“This is a bat flying in the sky,” Josh says.

When the Singletons arrived in Chapel Hill, it was hard to find child care. First they enrolled Josh in a bilingual school, but the teachers didn’t speak English.

“It was more like a Spanish school, which was okay,” says Jennifer Singleton, “except we couldn’t communicate with the teachers.” Next was a rather unremarkable home-based center.

After several months on a waiting list and a bit of luck, Josh, at age 1, was accepted into FPG. The center holds a lottery to ensure its 85 slots are balanced by race, gender, income and disability. One-third of the students have a physical or cognitive disability.

The Singletons welcome the diversity, saying Josh’s experiences have benefited the entire family.

“With our professional careers, we probably run in a pretty tight circle,” says his father Scott Singleton. “One of the things he brings back and teaches the family is how to live in the world.”

The Singletons marvel at how their son has thrived in a large group with lots of stimulation.

“One of the things Josh has benefited from is he’s a very confident kid,” says his mother. “He believes he can do things. He’s starting to read on his own because he thought he could. Matthew didn’t believe he could,” she says of his older brother who did not attend FPG.

When the “Peacekeepers” get their turn in the playroom, Josh and his friend, Kameron, cartwheel across the mats, providing their own color commentary.

“Here he goes with a double,” Josh calls out, imitating a television sports announcer.

“We’re gonna replay that,” Kameron says.

The Singletons, more introverted and bookish, were surprised when Josh, at age 2, grabbed a microphone at the school picnic and sang “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”

The singing was pretty good, his father recalls. More importantly, Josh had no fear.

“That was the beginning for me of the recognition that at school he was learning things he probably wouldn’t have learned from me,” says Scott Singleton. “That integrated approach that develops kids’ creativity; he wouldn’t have gotten from me.”

More information about the FPG Child Development Institute Child Care Program