KSHB 41 reporter Claire Bradshaw covers eastern Jackson County, including Blue Springs and Lee's Summit. Share your story idea with Claire.
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Saturday marks National Parents as Teachers Day, celebrating a nationwide program that gives parents the tools and resources to be their child's first teacher before they enter school.
The Parents as Teachers program connects families with parent educators who provide monthly home visits focused on early childhood development. Parents can voluntarily sign up as early as prenatal until their child enters school.
Hannah Colvin, a parent educator with the Lee's Summit R7 School District's Parents as Teachers program, visits the O'Leary family monthly to support their daughter Summer's development.
"We bring research based information on some of those difficult areas of parenting as children continue to develop, for example, teaching kids how to use the potty," Colvin said.
For first-time parents Staci and Caleb O'Leary, the program has been invaluable in understanding developmental milestones.
"So that's been really helpful, just to know, like, what are we looking for at this age, what are we expecting her to be able to do? And sometimes it's things. Like, one of the things that popped up last spring was drinking from a cup, and it was something I had just never introduced so it was like, Well, of course, she's behind on it because she hadn't got to practice on it. And so just to know, like, oh yeah, I would have never thought of that. It was helpful," the O'Learys said.
Parent educators bring developmental research and connect families with community resources, including where to access diapers or formula when needed. The program also offers developmental screenings to monitor important milestones.
During home visits, educators assess specific skills through play-based activities. Colvin recently worked with Summer on drawing to observe her pencil grip, cutting and snipping to teach proper scissors technique, and memory games to develop matching skills while working through frustration.
"We worked on drawing. So I was looking for her, her pencil grip with her little crayon. Today, we did some cutting and snipping, trying to teach her how to hold her, her scissors appropriately, and just starting those early, early fine motor skills of being able to cut. We did a memory game and matching game, with a scavenger hunt where she could match and find the colors while also telling us the color and working through the frustration of not being able to find things immediately," Colvin said.
The O'Learys believe the program is essential for new parents navigating early childhood development.
"There may be certain developmental milestones that might slip through the cracks if parents didn't have this resource," O'Leary said.
The Lee's Summit R7 School District offers the program free for district families, and multiple chapters serve families across the Kansas City metro area.
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