The Allen, Simpson, and Logan Community Early Childhood Council has worked to secure funding to push forward programs which provide important resources for parents and caregivers. We often work with like-minded agencies to widen the circle and reach more people. Armed with skills, parents and caregivers can greatly increase a child’s future success in school. Those early relationships are critical to a child’s development.
Research helps us identify three key factors influencing young children’s readiness for school:
All three factors develop during the early years of life, primarily through language rich parent-child relationships. (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000). Parents and caregivers become a child’s “first teachers.”
When children in our counties show low scores in reading, art, music, and drama, it may be related to the child’s early development and it could lead to bigger problems later. Family and consumer sciences professionals are working to provide important resources for parents and caregivers, such as parent packets, child-friendly books, and a “Parent Express” newsletter. The newsletter has been a success in encouraging parents to want more.
This experience is relevant to activity in the Kentucky legislature. Representative Jim Decesare is sponsoring a bill in the 2008 Kentucky General Assembly Session. The bill draft looks at parent education program pilots. The pilot takes a mentoring approach for families with limited resources. Citizens can review the bill draft online.
