I am writing today not only as a proud Head Start parent, but as an example of a Head Start success. This program has not just made a difference in my daughter’s life but my whole families. I had heard that Head Start was one of the best if not the best early learning program for children with tons of research to prove it, but I want to share with you the best kept secret to Head Start, it is the best family learning program in the nation.
Our family moved from Clay County Arkansas to Pacific County Washington three years ago. Before leaving Arkansas my husband was labeled disabled. This knocked his world out from underneath him, going from a workaholic making a very good living to barely being able to get around the house on his own. This put him in a deep depression of feeling worthless and that in a sense that he was no longer a man. Man’s role is to take care of his family and provide he would tell me time and time again. He felt that he no longer had a reason to get up and that he had no purpose. This was very hard on our family and when we moved we had no one to help and I was now working full time, taking care, of him and the girls.
Then we enrolled my youngest in the local Head Start program to help with child care while I was at work. Our center was so welcoming and invited us to be involved in our daughters class and be apart of what she was learning. On my husbands good days he went and I tried to be in there at least once a week on my day off and spend the day. I was know as the play-dough mom and it was great fun for me these little children other than my own so happy to see me and running to get the play-dough out for us to play. Not soon after being in the center as often as we were the teachers and family advocate asked us to run for Policy Council they said it would be great for us and we would enjoy being apart of it. Well we did and this is when I started seeing a change in my husband. He was getting up in the morning with a renewed sense of purpose not only for his family but that he could still be an active part of others and still make a difference. Policy Council opened many doors for him to use the knowledge he had of business to help better the program. We went to every meeting and were active participants.
In the mean time I was learning a new side of myself as well. I was a shy and not very confident in myself and my abilities. My family advocate asked me one day in our home visit what one of my goals was and I said well I need to get my GED I had put it off for several years and really didn’t think I could do it. Well she helped me find the local college and helped me get enrolled in the classes for the GED. With her help and other mentors I had gained in the agency that ran our Head Start program they kept me on track and in May my daughter graduated from Head Start and in June I received my GED at a graduation ceremony that my family advocate attended.
The next year my daughter started Kindergarten and I went back to Head Start and served a second year on the Policy Council as a community representative. More opportunities opened up for me to go to conferences and trainings. I am overcoming other things that I didn’t think I could like public speaking. I believe in this program so much that I had been asked to speak about it at a few events and to incoming parents about the program. I am not a public speaker by far but I am getting there with the support of all those at my Head Start program. I have learned so much and I know I still have a lot more to learn so I am going to continue with the Policy Council for my third and final year and hopefully can mentor more parents and help them get the great experiences that I have received threw my Head Start years.
See I had to go back to pre-school to realize what I want to do when I grow up. I am going back to school to earn my Early Childhood Education (ECE) degree and I am working on getting my CDA. My husband has a purpose again and has taken this new found excitement and taken it to the community that we live in and our daughter’s public school. I have found my voice and realize that I can make a difference in the life of children and their families. Due to The Head Start program and all of those connected to it our life has for ever changed and what a better gift could ever be given? Thanks to all of you who work to make a difference and keep this program what it is, a program built to make a positive difference in a child and their family’s lives.