Tea, cookies and silly hats were all on display for TCC’s Children Center Annual High Hat Tea Party on NE.  

At the beginning of each semester, every child has the ability to choose a topic to learn about. And on Feb. 9 it was hats and tea. TCC’s Children’s Center is open to the public on a waitlist process but it is also where many TCC affiliates take their children to.  

For TCC police officer Donald E. Whiteside, seeing his child Dawson playing and running around the classroom was gratifying. 

“The interactions with the parents and the kids and seeing how they’re happy,” he said. “This is what we all want.” 

Whether it be a lunch or a playground playdate Josh Mauldin, father of two-year-old Luc said the value of it is more than just having a tea party. 

“It’s more of just an effort that the teachers and the administration put into organizing something for the parents,” he said. “So it could be a tea party, it could be lunch, it could be a playground play day, it doesn’t matter what the event is, the fact is that they’re making an effort to do it, and to organize it. That’s the value,”

Not only that, Mauldin said he feels inviting the parents benefits the children as well. 

“It’s just nice to see that first hand,” he said. “The biggest thing is just getting parents here, letting kids see their parents show up and support them in an event. For all the kids, it just kind of makes the kids feel more supported like ‘Oh, there’s a school event and all of our parents are showing up,’” he said. 

Erica Flynn, mother four year old Emery said that the reason why she brought her daughter to the facility was because she thought it was developmentally appropriate for her 

 “I think the kids’ anticipation,” she said. “It’s just such a build up for them when they show up and their parents are here and they get to spend time with them, it’s a good bonding time.” 

The structure, the teachers and how attentive they were with the children is what attracted former student and former intern Millie Afeame to bring her four year old daughter to the facility.  

Afeame said that while she always hears about her daughter’s friends, with the tea party she had an excuse to finally meet them. At the time of her internship, her daughter wasn’t born. But the minute she was she immediately put her daughter on the waitlist. 

“What I experienced as an intern here, I would want everyone to experience. Every parent to have piece of mind when their child is here,” she said. 

Child Center Teacher Erielle Casayuran teaches three and four year olds and said the tea party’s goal was to have families involved with their children. Casayuran explained that it is right around valentine’s day when they teach about kindness.  

She also explained the tea party was an opportunity for the parents to learn more about what teachers plan on doing in the classroom next in depth.  

“Like what are we doing next in the semester, what are we learning and how’s so and so doing, it’s more in depth with them.”  

She hopes that if the families and children took anything away from the event it would be that they are a community and like to be with the families and children, welcoming them into their children’s space too. 

OLLA MOKHTAR
campus editor
olla.mokhtar@my.tccd.edu