An Early Childhood Family Education class for parents with school-age children will be offered for the first time in St. Paul, thanks to a group of moms who had ECFE withdrawal after their kids aged out of the program.

"You just feel so lost," said St. Paul mom Julie Printz, who attended ECFE while her two daughters were young. "There is a whole new bucket of challenges when you move into elementary schools. There are issues about teachers and other kids in their classroom and homework."

ECFE classes, which are open to parents until their children enter kindergarten, are run through the local school districts and offer a place for parents to swap advice about everything from sleep to sibling rivalry. A professional parent educator facilitates discussions and offers advice.

Printz and others found a willing partner in the nonprofit Working Family Resource Center, which offers parenting education classes mostly in workplace settings.

The first eight-week session starts Sept. 16 and is designed for parents of children ages 5 through 10. Classes will meet at 9:30 a.m. or 6 p.m. Tuesdays at the Rondo Education Center, 560 Concordia Ave., St. Paul. Topics will include discipline, bullying, developing homework routines, communication between home and school, friendships, overindulgence and the effect of media.

Fee is $40. (To keep costs down, child care will not be provided.) Register by calling the Working Family Resource Center at 651-293-5330. A

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second session will start in January.

— Maja Beckstrom