Partnering with Parents Institute, Walking the Journey Together
Staff Involved: Donna Donald, Kim Greder, Anthony Santiago, Heidi Bell, Sharon Wasteney, Pat Swartzlander, Pat Anderson, Kim Brantner, Mary Hughes, Lesia Oesterreich, Joyce Lash

Problem:
Parent education is a growing field with a variety of people organizing and facilitating learning experiences for parents. Some have formal training in related fields while others are trained to teach a specific curriculum. But the majority of the people do not have a background in parenting research and theory nor do they understand best practices.

Response:
An educational outreach academy promoting recommended practices for parent-professional collaboration was held in Creston in fall 2004/winter 2005. Donna Donald led a team of 10 co-workers in planning, recruiting, implementing and teaching the academy. Six participants met for 10 sessions (50 hours of group and 10 hours of online learning) from September - January. Additional participants joined the class for individual modules.

Impact:
The participants represented a variety of positions: Parents as Teachers, Head Start, Family Resource Center, and Iowa State University Extension. Participants’ experience in the parent education field ranged from just beginning to more than 20 years. Funding for the $500 registration fee for all participants came from employers or grant dollars. All participants completed the coursework and assignments for certification.

At the conclusion of each class, participants completed reflection sheets sharing “the most important thing I learned today was…” Following is one comment from each of the modules.

• How historical events, government policies impact family theories.
• The Family Values Activity had many “aha” moments including the possibility of using it with families to get them thinking about what values they are passing on.
• How some people’s methods of self-care are very different from mine, but that is how they deal with life. I will think more about ways to build rapport and trust with parents and ways to advocate for families.
• How to evaluate different curriculum and what I should be looking for while choosing one.
• This was one of my favorites. Stages of parenthood was new to me and a good item to learn.
• Statistics regarding physical activity and nutrition for children – more dramatic than I expected. The relationship between feeding and self-concept. Good session – lots of helpful info. Useful handouts.
• I enjoyed discussing the outcomes for children under the various parenting styles. I also thought getting parents thinking about what they want for their child was awesome. I can see me encouraging families to choose some qualities they consider important and helping them identify ways to encourage and discourage that trait.
• A better understanding of the terminology used in evaluation and programming. I found this to be very helpful.
• One of the most helpful questions to consider when talking about finances was “what are your financial goals?” the follow up response really caught my attention. Parents may say they don’t have any goals, but they just want to pay their bills. That IS a goal. I also liked the chart that outlines financial goals at different ages.
• How others view parent educators – what the state sees as a profession.

At the conclusion of the academy participants were asked to complete this sentence, “the most important thing I learned about myself as a result of Partnering with Parents is . . .” Their responses follow:

• How my values and philosophy affect my teaching methods and the ways I work with families.
• That there was more to know. Learning in this fashion allowed me to have practices of many of the topics.
• That views can change and you don’t have to sacrifice your beliefs and values. Families have so many parts to them that nothing is ever the same for every family – including my own!
• I had a narrow view of working with families. I was very simplistic.
• It is important for me to be checking myself, always, to make sure that I am giving information to parents based on research and not my personal bias and cultural influences.
• To reflect, look at outside resources, issues with parents and tools - then use them in a non-threatening manner. How to be a better parent!

Contact:
Donna K. Donald, Family Life Field Specialist
Iowa State University Extension
309 North Main, Leon, IA 50144
Phone 641-446-4723; Fax: 641-446-6142
Email ddonald@iastate.edu

 

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