Classes for Parents

Empower Your Parenting Journey with Our Classes

Ready to embrace parenthood with confidence? Family Picnic in Chicago, IL, offers comprehensive Classes for Parents designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills you need. Our range of courses covers everything from childbirth preparation to newborn care and beyond. We provide:

• Childbirth education classes
• Breastfeeding workshops
• Newborn care seminars
• Postpartum adjustment sessions
• Infant CPR and safety classes
• Parenting skills workshops

Don't navigate this exciting journey alone. Reach out to us to find the perfect class for your needs.

Prepare for Parenthood with Confidence

Becoming a parent is a life-changing experience, and it's natural to have questions and concerns. Our Classes for Parents are designed to address common challenges and provide you with practical solutions. Here's why you might benefit from our classes:

• Gain essential knowledge about childbirth and postpartum care
• Learn techniques for managing labor and delivery
• Develop skills for caring for your newborn
• Understand the basics of breastfeeding and infant nutrition
• Prepare for the emotional and physical changes of parenthood
• Connect with other expectant and new parents

Our classes offer a supportive environment where you can learn, ask questions, and build confidence in your parenting abilities.

Why Choose Family Picnic

At Family Picnic, we're committed to providing the best possible education and support for parents-to-be and new parents. Here's what sets us apart:

• Over 30 years of experience in birth and parenting education
• Evidence-based information that's up-to-date and reliable
• Trained childbirth educators who are passionate about supporting families
• Invoices provided for insurance reimbursement
• Personalized experiences tailored to your unique needs
• Certified lactation specialist on staff for expert breastfeeding support
• Locally, family, and woman-owned business with deep roots in the Chicago community

We are dedicated to helping you feel prepared, supported, and empowered throughout your parenting journey.

Classes for New and Expectant Parents

CPR And Choking Relief

Training led by CPR-certified instructors.

Sunday, May 17th

5:00 - 6:30 pm

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all expectant/new parents learn CPR. Choking is the #1 cause of accidental infant death. CPR and choking relief skills are vital for parents of infants of young children. 

This fun class follows American Heart Association Guidelines, featuring infant and child CPR, choking relief, AED use, as well as hands-only CPR for adults. The class is especially geared for parents. 

Our CPR instructors are certified by the AHA and have experience working with more than 20,000 new families, and we are skilled in the safety challenges that new parents face. We also include other essential safety information specific to new families: SIDS prevention, poison control and car seat safety. Non-crawling babies are welcome to attend with their parents. 

*Certification available for a small additional fee

Led by Kim Wilschek, RN and CPR Instructor

Cost: $45/individual; $85/Couple

Writing Your Birth Story: For Everyone Who Has Given Birth Ever

This workshop will be offered on a Saturday morning with tea and treats available.

Saturday, April 25th, 11:00 am - 1:00 pm

Have you been wanting to write the story of your baby’s birth, but you don’t know where to start and/or feel overwhelmed?

Join us for a 2-hour in-person workshop where you will respond to short readings, poems, and generative prompts to capture your unique birth experience!

Fun, exploratory, and creative, this class will give you different ways to access and work with your story that may lead to some surprises! This is a generative class, and we will do a lot of writing. It will also give you material and ideas on how to continue working with your story even after the class is over.

This is not a birth story processing class. We won’t be sharing our stories or reading our writing. Although it’s wonderful to share your story in the appropriate context, we’ll be focusing on getting words down on paper (or your laptop).

I’ll also include a short resource list of writing teachers and additional support for processing your stories. This writing workshop is for any person who has given birth, whether the birth was last week or thirty years ago.

No previous writing experience necessary.

Taught by writer and birth worker, Julie Lambert, DONA, CAPPA, Certified Perinatal Patient Advocate

Cost: $150

CPR And Choking Relief

Training led by CPR-certified instructors.

Sunday, Dec. 14th

5:30 - 7:00 pm

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all expectant/new parents learn CPR. Choking is the #1 cause of accidental infant death. CPR and choking relief skills are vital for parents of infants of young children. 

This fun class follows American Heart Association Guidelines, featuring infant and child CPR, choking relief, AED use, as well as hands-only CPR for adults. The class is especially geared for parents. 

Our CPR instructors are certified by the AHA and have experience working with more than 20,000 new families, and we are skilled in the safety challenges that new parents face. We also include other essential safety information specific to new families: SIDS prevention, poison control and car seat safety. Non-crawling babies are welcome to attend with their parents. 

*Certification available for a small additional fee

Led by Kim Wilschek, RN and CPR Instructor

Cost: $45/individual; $85/Couple

Prenatal Yoga

Fridays, April 10th - 24th

11:45 - 12:45

Practice yoga for two (or more!) in prenatal yoga with Nicole. Work through gentle and modified yoga poses appropriate for the pregnant body with focused breathing. Classes are a wonderful opportunity for pregnant women to connect and begin to build their parenting village. Poses practiced build strength and balance while also increasing flexibility in a safe environment. Great for all stages of pregnancy.

Class Taught by Yoga instructor, Nicole Cheesman

Nicole has taught yoga since 2017. One of her many goals is making yoga accessible to everyone. Many struggle to find a good fit, yoga can truly benefit anyone who is looking for a yoga practice to bring them balance. Yoga helps practitioners flexibility and strength, as well as focus through  breath work and connection with their body. With specialties built from prenatal and restorative yoga trainings, Nicole leads prenatal and post natal clients through yoga practice while creating a supportive community. One of Nicole’s passions is to share yoga practices that address the needs of parents and their children. She is excited to share her knowledge through teaching as well as learning and growing from her students.

Cost: Drop-in: $35

Three-week Series: $90

Classes for Parents & Caregivers

Grandparent Class

A class designed for expecting or new grandparents!

Next Class: TBD

How exciting it is to be expecting a grandchild or to already be greeting a new little one! As grandparents, you may not have cared for a baby since having your own. And a lot has changed both in how babies are cared for at birth and in the first few weeks of life.

Breastfeeding also has several new recommendations. Hospitals have responded to this and no longer whisk babies off to the nursery. Parents bring babies home on day 2, and have all the challenges of very new babies adjusting to the world outside. As a grandparent participating in some of the care of grandbabies, come and learn about the many changes so that you can support your children as they navigate becoming new parents. Join our discussion about all of these things, and prepare to welcome your grandbaby into today’s world.

Led by Sue Gottschall, who holds a Masters in Child Development and has spent all of her career working with families and children. Currently, she is a Certified Lactation Specialist, a Mom and Baby Group leader, and a therapist. Sue worked for years as a birth and postpartum doula. She has 8 grandchildren age 7 - 18 and has been involved as a grandparent in the care of all of them, as well as raising her own four children.

Cost: $100/couple

What's Up with Toddlers

A class designed for parents of toddlers 

Next Class: TBD

This workshop is for all parents approaching or in the midst of the toddler years – anytime from around nine months to 2.5 years. You’ve brought this wonderful baby into the world; You’ve welcomed the joys and struggled through the challenges of the early days and the months of many changes in your baby’s first year of growth.

Suddenly, your baby is more of a person, a toddler, who is bent on discovering the world and asserting their personhood. How to respond to and manage this next stage in development challenges many parents. Join Sue for a discussion of what’s going on and some strategies and ideas of how to manage it and still encourage your toddler to become their own person and investigate the world.

Led by Sue Gottschall, who holds a Masters in Child Development and has spent all of her career working with families and children. Currently, she is a Certified Lactation

Specialist, a Mom and Baby Group leader, and a therapist She has 8 grandchildren age 7 -18 and has been involved as a grandparent in the care of all of them, as well as raising 4 children of her own.

Cost: $100 per couple