EARLY LITERACY PROGRAM HELPS MOM CONTINUE TEACHING, THIS TIME AT HOME

As a former special education teacher, Amber Brown knows the importance of helping young children build language skills early, before they start school. 

So it is no surprise that now, as a stay-at-home mom of two, Amber is a big fan of a parent education program that offers monthly events throughout the Southwest Valley to help families learn fun and educational activities that promote early literacy skills and healthy development. 

The 21st Century Parent Education and Coordination program by Southwest Institute for Families and Children is funded by the First Things First Southwest Maricopa Regional Partnership Council. Each month, program staff set up learning events at various locations in the Southwest Valley. Dozens of families attend, and some, like Amber and her two children, 3-year-old Steven and 1-year-old Victoria, attend every month.  

“I’ve learned so many easy learning activities I can do with the kids at home,” the Buckeye mom said. “The teacher in me really appreciates the rich literacy, the active play, the emphasis on new vocabulary.  It’s been such a great resource.”

And one look around the room at a typical 21st Century Parent Education event shows that no is no shortage of learning going on here. Toddlers and preschoolers excitedly pull their parents, who often hold babies in their arms, from activity to activity.

Activities focus on a monthly theme – one recent month, the theme was nutrition. In one area, children sampled different types of bread and tracked which ones they liked best on a large wall chart – practicing an important math skill -- before gathering for story time to read a book called “Bread, Bread, Bread.” In another part of the room, Steven, with a little help from mom and sister, colors a roughly drawn life-size outline of his body, all part of the theme of healthy eating means healthy bodies.

To the young children, it seems to be all fun and games, but Otto explains that each activity is carefully selected to promote positive parent-child interaction and early learning. “We believe that parents are a child’s first and best teacher,” explained Cathy Otto, education director for Southwest Institute. “All that we do and teach helps parents to be more confident as they do their job of raising their children.”