Program returns to help families

By Editor | December 20, 2018 |

Skye Pournazari
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MARYVILLE, Mo. — Parents as Teachers started in the 1970s to help children become fully ready to start kindergarten. Now, the program recently begun again in Maryville hopes to accomplish the same goal, with more focus on building strong communities and thriving families.

Kelsi Meyer, parent educator at the Maryville Early Childhood Center, works with parents of newborns through age 5 to help the children reach age-specific milestones and better prepare for kindergarten.

“Especially a first parent, they’re sometimes so overwhelmed, I want them to know that they have a free resource right here in the community,” Meyer said.

Part of what the program does is help parents to understand the milestones their child should be making at specific ages. She said there is so much information online that it can sometimes be confusing for a parent to decipher where their child should be in development.

The program offers four main components to help parents track development: personal visits, group meetings, screenings and a resource network.

With regard to personal visits, Meyer said she visits with parents in their homes to help provide ideas and see the child or children in a comfortable environment.

“All of the material that we’re bringing in is research-based,” she said. “It’s developmentally appropriate. It might just even give the parents different ideas on how to interact and things to do with their child using materials that they have right there in their house.”

As a parent educator, Meyer offers practice tips to parents on ways to encourage learning, manage behavior in their children and promote strong parent-child relationships.

She said parents sometimes feel pressure to get the “newest Fisher-Price toy, when actually you can use toilet paper rolls.”

As an example, for a 14- to 24-month-old, an activity includes using cotton balls and an empty water bottle. It helps develop fine motor skills and keep them entertained, she said.

“What I really like about the whole program is that it empowers parents, pointing out every parent has strengths,” Meyer said. “You already have this great bond; how can we extend that nurturing into supporting your child’s learning?”

Some parents have spoken with Meyer about how they don’t want someone to come into their home and tell them how to parent.

“It’s not that at all,” she said. “You’re already doing a great job, it’s just how can you use the resources that are already available to you.”

According to the program’s website, group meetings offer parents a chance to get together, gain new insights and share parenting experiences, concerns and successes.

Parents as Teachers offers screenings for hearing, vision, language, dental, nutritional, motor, intellectual and social-emotional development. The goals of these screenings are to give parents an understanding of their child’s development and identify any potential concern before it could be an obstacle in their child’s development.

“Early experiences have a huge impact on brain development and social adjustment,” said Becky Albrecht, Maryville R-II School District superintendent. “Knowing this, I am so excited that our district is offering the Parents as Teacher Program to local families. Through PAT, the district offers many resources to help create caring, supportive environments for our earliest learners.”

Currently, the program works with about 20 families and Meyer is the only parent educator in the PAT program at the MECC, but she said that will change as the program grows.

The program is far from new to Maryville. About 10 years ago, Meyer said the program was really thriving and had about 400 families.

“We are thrilled to get our Parents as Teachers program up and running again in the Maryville community,” said Michelle McCollum, MECC director. “Mrs. Meyer has several families already enrolled in the growing program and is always looking to recruit more. The Parents as Teachers program recognizes that parents are their children’s first and primary teachers. To have a parent educator like Mrs. Meyer on our staff to support families during the prenatal through 5-year-old parenting journey is a wonderful asset for our families.”

Even now, Meyer said there is definitely a need in the area for this program. She learned from the hospital that about 35 babies are born at the hospital per month.

“Some of those are coming from the small towns around us,” she said.

And those parents also can join the program, if there isn’t a PAT program in their community. Meyer said Ravenwood and Jefferson have a program, and Pickering just got theirs up and running.

“Even if they’re planning on going to St. Gregory’s or homeschooling,” Meyer said. “…as long as they’re a part of the Maryville community, they’re welcome.”

She said the biggest thing for parents to realize about the program message, is that the parents are the first and best teacher and that is what they govern everything around, supporting the parent.

Meyer explained the organization wants to build and be the network that a parent can use to help further develop their child.

“Right now, we’re just working to build up families and get the program fully established,” Meyer said. “Parenting, it really does take a village. We just want to be a part of that village.”

For more information about the program, visit the program website at: www.mecc.maryville.k12.mo.us/parents-as-teachers.html.

SKYE POURNAZARI/THE FORUM
Lily Nixon, 8, holds a tablet, while she uses one hand to stack oversized cups at Tuesday night’s Parents as Teachers Open Gym Night held at Eugene Field Elementary. Kelsi Meyer, parent educator with Parents as Teachers, said the organization offers an activity one night per month for parents and children to interact and run off some energy. During the winter, she’s heard many parents are looking for somewhere free to take their children for activity. She hopes to increase the number of times per month something can be held.