By Gale Rose
Colton Hemphill, the 16-month-old son of Nathan and Laura Hemphill, tries his hand at fishing for the first time on Dad’s lap at a Parents As Teachers picnic last week at the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks kids’ fishing pond.Program offers help for parents
By Carol Bronson
June 23, 2009
Babies don’t come with instruction manuals, but there are
resources for new parents. And school doesn’t start with
kindergarten or even preschool and it isn’t limited to August
through May. The Parents as Teachers page on the Pratt Greenbacks
website refers to “beginning at the beginning.”
Cheryl Couch, director of the Parents as Teachers program for the
Pratt and Skyline school districts, contacts parents of new babies
whose birth announcements are printed in the Tribune. More than 40
families have enrolled in the program that includes monthly home
visits focusing on normal development of children from birth
through age three and age-appropriate activities.
Another 15 families take advantage of weekly playgroups and classes
on child sign language. A group is currently meeting each Wednesday
at the public swimming pool or local parks and occasional field
trips in the area.
Participants range from single teens to first-time parents in their
40s and stay-at-home moms to professional families. With an
increase in parents laid off from their jobs, about 40 percent of
participants are not employed, Couch said.
Parents don’t instinctively know everything they need to know about
babies and toddlers and the old system of handing down knowledge
from grandparents and great-grandparents is not as effective in a
mobile society, she noted.
Underlying the program are several statements: A parent is a
child’s first teacher. It’s the most important job you’ll ever
have. The home is a child’s first school.
In addition to home visits and playgroups, PAT also maintains a
lending library of books, puzzles and activities for parents to
use. Developmental, hearing and vision screening is also
available.
PAT works with the local Masonic lodge which provides a
computer-based child identification program.
A child’s earliest experiences can have an enormous impact on his
or her later development and success in school. Eighty-one percent
of children whose parents have completed the “Born to Learn”
curriculum are on target with all skills by third grade, Couch
said.
Her husband, Mike Couch, principal at Haskins Elementary School,
says it is obvious when parents “take time to spend valuable time
with their kids.” They’re more secure in their relationships and
they are learning lessons that are not planned, they just happen in
the course of spending time together.
Basic parent-child interaction should include talking together to
expand vocabulary, asking questions and giving choices, Cheryl
Couch said. She recommends that parents read to their children
every day and provide music in their lives. Taking the time to play
with children, even though everyone is tired from work or daycare,
strengthens the bond.
Parents as Teachers is funded by a Kansas Department of Education
grant that provides 65 percent of the budget. Local school
districts provide the remaining 35 percent, with USD 382 picking up
a bigger share of the tab.
Parents who are interested in the program may contact the office of
their own school district, USD 382 at 672-4500 or USD 438 Skyline
at 672-5651.
