The Arlington Independent School District wants young children in Tarrant County to be prepared for school as soon as possible, even before they reach pre-K age. A series of classes for infants and toddlers helps them to achieve that goal.
The district offers free Infant Time classes to community members free of charge in hopes of helping parents become their child’s first teacher while they’re still at home. The program’s counterpart, Toddler Time, serves the same purpose but for a slightly older age group. The Infant Time classes are available for about a month at the beginning of the fall and spring semesters while Toddler Time classes are offered throughout the school year.
While the classes provide information to parents on their child’s development and learning, they also create relationships between the school district and families who may end up enrolling their children in Arlington ISD’s pre-K program.
Parents learn about safe sleeping practices for their infants on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026 at Kooken Education Center in Arlington. Arlington ISD offers Infant Time, a 5-week program offered twice a school year for ages 0 to 3 years old. Abigail Dollins Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Toddler Time was launched by the district in the early 2000s, but Infant Time was introduced in 2022. They are offered at Title I schools in the district, and the only requirement is having a child who is either infant or toddler age. District officials say they have yet to see a similar offering by another school district in the area.
“We’ve been contacted by others about what we do, but we’ve not seen anybody else do this,” said Suzanne Stevenson, Title I family engagement specialist with Arlington ISD.
At an Infant Time class on Tuesday at Kooken Education Center, parents sat with their children on mats with blankets, books and building blocks. While representatives from Cook Children’s Health Care System spoke about sleep safety in English and Spanish, some infants wiggled in their parents’ arms or around the school gym while other children babbled and played with basketballs.
Dulce Montoya and her baby Sergio Sandoval, 11 months old, attend Infant Time on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026 at Kooken Education Center in Arlington. Arlington ISD offers Infant Time, a 5-week program offered twice a school year for ages 0 to 3 years old. Abigail Dollins Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Vanessa Valadez, a Title I facilitator in Arlington ISD focused on early childhood outreach, told parents their child starts to recognize quantities by 6 months old. She encouraged attendees to count up to five with their fingers out loud with their child, which also helps build their motor skills.
“What’s important when they’re itty bitty is they’re listening to your voice and they’re also stretching out those muscles,” she said. “You’re always building their brain.”
Mothers Magali Padron and Briseyda Ocampo, who brought their 3-month-old and 6-month-old children to the Tuesday class, said the information about recognizing quantities by 6 months old was something new they didn’t know beforehand. Both have older children who are 3 years old and are attending pre-K at Kooken Education Center.
“They should tell you at the pediatrician’s office, ‘Hey, by the way, you can go to free classes.’ Had they said that, I would have brought her. We didn’t know until our kids started school,” Padron said, referring to the Infant Time classes.
Maribeth Jaimes, 6 months old, and Briseyda Ocampo attend Infant Time on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026 at Kooken Education Center in Arlington. Arlington ISD offers Infant Time, a 5-week program offered twice a school year for ages 0 to 3 years old. Abigail Dollins Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Sandra Kitchen, a marketing representative and community health worker with Cook Children’s, also explained to parents the “ABC’s of the Zzzs” during the class. The acronym refers to how babies should sleep Alone, on their Back and in a Crib. This reduces the risk of Sudden Unexpected Infant Death, or SUID, which includes unintentional suffocation caused by unsafe sleeping practices.
Unintentional suffocation is the leading cause of injury-related deaths among children younger than 1 year old, and 82% of these deaths come from accidental suffocation or strangulation in bed. In Tarrant County, there were 120 SUID infant deaths between 2020 and 2024, according to Kitchen.
Kitchen told parents to avoid putting objects such as stuffed animals in their children’s cribs. Pacifiers are allowed as long as there are no strings attached to them. She also encouraged parents to ensure the bedsheets in the crib aren’t too big so the baby avoids getting caught in them while tossing and turning.
“You guys remember those bumpers we used to put on the crib, so the babies wouldn’t fall out or their arms wouldn’t get stuck? Those were actually ending up being unsafe. These are all the things our parents did to us, so we are lucky to be here today,” Kitchen said with a laugh.
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Lina Ruiz covers early childhood education in Tarrant County and North Texas for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. A University of Florida graduate, she previously wrote about local government in South Florida for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers.