Mothers’ First Mother’s Day
Children’s Council offers resources for new moms

By Caroline Monday

Parenting is hard work, as any mom can tell you, and Mother’s Day is a time to show your appreciation and to take a moment to recognize all that goes into raising a healthy, happy child.

The Children’s Council, the area’s Smart Start partnership, offers resources to new mothers and fathers through their Parents as Teachers program. The program helps parents be the best they can be by providing information on child development and parenting.

Parents as Teachers certified parent educators visit families in their homes monthly with support and information.

One such parent educator and director of the Children’s Council’s Parents as Teachers program is Robin Triplett.

She said the parent educators work with about 110 families in the area. Their duties include being sources of information, offering support groups and lending age-appropriate toys and activities to the families. The program serves families starting when the mother is pregnant and lasting until the child starts kindergarten.

“Children don’t come with instructions,” Triplett said. Parents often have questions about their child’s development and the parent educators are available to answer those questions.

“It eases some of that tension they have when they first bring babies home,” she said.

Triplett said she and the other educators do developmental screenings for the parents and help them gauge their child’s progress. They suggest activities that help parents insure their child is developing at the appropriate pace.

Triplett said she develops close relationships with the families she serves, making them comfortable with calling her whenever they have a question. She said the possibility for these kinds of relationships is one of the program’s strengths.

Parents sometimes feel rushed with the pediatrician, or not free to ask all of the questions they would like to ask, Triplett said. The extended amount of time parent educators spend with families helps them build a rapport.

Triplett said she answers questions about everything from breast feeding to soothing a crying baby.

Parents as Teachers is a national program, made available through local agencies serving families. For more information about the Children’s Council, contact the office at (828) 262-5424 or go online to thechildrenscouncil.org.