Submitted Stories

Promoting the importance of early learning…

Rhonda Walker is a MIHOW (Maternal Infant Health Outreach Worker) in the Oak Hill area. She fondly remembers a family that she visited until recently when the child “aged out” of the MIHOW program.

“When Hunter was about six months old, I bought him a book, the kind with the pages that don’t tear,” Rhonda says. “Every single time after that when I came to visit, he would always go off and come hurrying back with that book, wanting me to read it to him. It was so cute.”

“Now he’s almost three, and he already knows most of his ABCs,” she added.

Rosie Reynolds, Hunter’s mother, says that she and Hunter both learned a lot through the program. “Even though I was a third-time mom, things had changed so much,” she says. “For example, Rhonda taught me to get down to Hunter’s level and really look him in the eye and talk to him, rather than talking ‘at’ him. I feel like I’m closer to him because of that.”

She says that Rhonda worked with Hunter on his colors and shape recognition, too. “I always read to all my boys,” Rosie says. “But I didn’t know that reading helps them to be smarter, and to build their imaginations, and so forth. Rhonda taught me that.”

“Every month, when she’d visit, she would bring me pages with the things that Hunter should be doing as far as his development, and they also had things every month that I could be doing with him to help him learn and get ready to read,” Rosie says. “All of that was really helpful.”

“It just seems to me if I could learn so much from MIHOW as a third-time mom, that it’s really important for first-time mothers to have the chance to be involved with this program. My other sons are 15 and 10. I wish I’d been able to be in MIHOW with all of them.”

(Real names used with permission.)

Helping parents understand child development and behavior…

“I was old when I had my first child,” says Christy Keen Funk, of Ivydale. “I was 38. But that doesn’t mean that I knew about children. Parents as Teachers helped me find all the information that I needed to know. If Karen Vaughn, my worker, didn’t know the information, she knew where to send me to find it.”

Christy and her husband, Rick, now have two sons. Jacob is 3 and Jared is 6.

“I never, ever babysat. I didn’t have siblings. I had no exposure to what to expect, being a mom,” Christy says. “Every month they would come and assess my son’s development. They helped me know that he was on the right track.”

Parents As Teachers also offers parent support groups, which foster a sense of community and another avenue to learn about positive parenting, according to Christy.

“The group meetings are so helpful. I learn how other parents handle certain situations, and I get to see that I am not alone in the struggles that every parent has. I watch how their children are developing too. It’s wonderful.”

The information that Christy received through Parents As Teachers not only eased some of her fears, but also helped her to know what to do with difficult situations like temper tantrums.

“There was a time that I worried that something was wrong with Jacob, because he wasn’t talking. Karen sat down with me and showed me that it was normal for the stage that he was going through. You can’t imagine the relief.”

“Since I still had all these questions at 38, I think even younger moms could really benefit from Parents as Teachers, too. It has certainly helped my family. Also, it helps to get information from a neutral third party. It’s someone who really knows and who really just wants to help,” she says.

Christy’s husband, Rick, has been an active participant in the program as well. “It has even helped our marriage and our shared parenting skills,” Christy says. “It got us on the ‘same page’ about parenting. We were both raised differently and had different ideas about how it is done. Parents as Teachers helped us find and stay in agreement about parenting. We have our own little game plan.”

“I think Parents as Teachers would be helpful to any family expecting a child. I recommend it all the time,” she says. “I’d do anything to help support it.”

(Real names used with permission.)

Helping families reach their goals…

Mandy Meadows moved to Huntington when she was 22. She didn’t know anyone who lived there. Two days later, she found out she was pregnant.

“When I was at the doctor, I just happened to check a box on this form that asked me if I wanted someone to follow up with me about the pregnancy,” she says. “This woman referred me to Healthy Families America, which changed my entire life and the lives of my children. I can’t imagine what things would be like for us if I hadn’t gotten the help from Healthy Families, and my caseworker, Angie Blackburn.”

Mandy is now in college. “That wouldn’t have happened, either, if it weren’t for the help that I’ve gotten from Healthy Families and Angie,” she says. “I didn’t know there were programs like Early Head Start. It’s an excellent program, and allows me to go to school.”

Mandy says that the breadth and depth of the information she receives from her home visitor has made a big difference in many ways.

“Even before my daughter was born, she showed me that I had options as far as pain medication, doctors, and all that. She helped me with everything from figuring out how to pay a bill if I didn’t have the money right away, to knowing what to expect with a newborn, to understanding normal child development. I had no idea what resources were in the community or how to access them. I learned everything from finding a place to live, to being a good mom, to getting into college.”

“Angie taught me how important breastfeeding is, and so I breast fed, because of her,” Mandy says.

Mandy believes that the program should be expanded and made known in the community. “Nobody ever talked to me about it,” she says. “It all boiled down to whether I checked that tiny little box. Everyone should know about this program.”

“Probably the most important thing that Angie taught me,” Mandy says, “was that it can be done. She believed in me, she helped me see that I could do this, that I could be strong and be a good mother.”

(Real names used with permission.)