You're Kidding Me Expo attracts 300 locals to Glendale

Now in its fourth year, the expo has continued to grow, with more community members and service providers attending the event than ever before.

Lake Macquarie City Council’s community planning manager John Ferguson said often families contact council asking what support services are available in Lake Macquarie. The expo provides the link between these families and local service providers.

“The expo brings together many services, resources, program providers and experts to the one place, so that parents can connect with them and know when to find them, when they need it the most”, Mr Ferguson said.

One of the presentations at the expo was “Supporting language development in 0-3-year-olds”, delivered by Amy Pollitt and Michelle Vatey from Early Start Speech Pathology.

Mrs Pollitt, a speech pathologist, said the expo allowed families to easily access services and find out answers for their parenting concerns.

“It is also a good opportunity for families and carers to see how many service providers there are in our local community and for those services to come together, and in some cases, establish ongoing working relationships to provide better care in our community,” she said.

Council’s You’re Kidding Me program runs throughout the year.

It was launched at last year’s You’re Kidding Me Expo.

In its inaugural year, the program delivered 128 free workshops for families and carers with more than 700 people registered for these events up until the end of May this year.

The success of the program over the last 12 months has ensured the continuation of the program for a second year.

The program workshops focus on various areas of child development, including early literacy, speech and language development, brain development, social and emotional development and healthy active children.