Parents as Teachers is a national non-profit program that provides home visits to pregnant women and families with young children. These visits are designed to empower parents by assisting them in child development milestones, building parenting skills, improving family relationships, finding community resources, and fostering partnerships with the early childhood education system.
We have some of the basic roles below:
Ability to work with diverse families.
It is the most common role of Parents as Teachers. As Parents as Teachers have national credentials to work with multicultural, multilingual families across the United States, we are able to provide parents with culturally relevant information that is most beneficial for the child.
Build relationships between parents and children’s school systems.
One of our roles is building relationships between parents and children’s school systems. We are able to share with teachers and other school personnel what we have learned from working with families at home.
Assist parents in assessing their child’s development and learning needs.
We also assist parents in assessing their child’s development, learning style, stage of physical-motor and language development, daily living skills, social skills etc. This is very important because we can guide parents to teach their child effectively.
Assist parents in finding community resources and establishing partnerships with the early childhood education system.
We also assist parents in finding community resources and establishing partnerships with the early childhood education system such as Head Start, private daycare centers, public preschools or other services for young children.
Assist parents in understanding how the early childhood curriculum is related to their child’s development and learning.
In addition, we assist parents so they can know about what materials are appropriate for young children at certain ages and stages of development. Parents as Teachers provide home-based services using a “play-based” approach which makes it easier to link home environments and early childhood curriculum.
Provide parents with training on parenting skills.
We also provide parents with basic knowledge of positive parenting skills, effective communication, understanding children’s behavior including their crying, aggression etc.
Teach parents the importance of play in young children’s lives.
Finally, we teach parents about the very important role of play in young children’s lives. Parents as Teachers believe that play is the work of young children. The Parents as Teachers program is based on the national early learning standards and we help parents to understand how what they do at home helps their child’s development and learning throughout each day.
We also train parents in positive discipline techniques.
We believe children need to know what behavior is acceptable and what is not, rather than just saying “no.” Parents as Teachers use a positive approach which teaches children how they can control their own behavior. For example, we train parents to say, “If you want to play with this toy, you must take your hands out of your mouth.”
We try to build a strong partnership
We try to build a strong partnership between families and the school system early on, through home visits from birth to age 5, although many families continue using our services even after their child turns five.
Help parents
The last role is to help parents maintain an effective partnership with teachers from preschool through kindergarten.We are working with almost 12,000 families in Missouri and Kansas, trying to help parents support their children’s development and learning at home.”
Conclusion
Parents as Teachers have national credentials to work with multicultural, multilingual families across the United States, we are able to provide parents with culturally relevant information that is most beneficial for the child. They also build relationship between parents and children’s school systems; assist parents in assessing their child’s development and learning needs;assist parents in finding community resources and establishing partnerships with the early childhood education system;assist in understanding how the early childhood curriculum is related to their child’s development and learning;teach parents about what materials are appropriate for young children at certain ages and stages of development, train parents in positive discipline techniques.
