Hardest job in the world? You betcha. Parenting Communities in Leelanau County helps with the challenges of parenting young children and preparing them for school success.
Everybody needs help sometimes, especially parents.
That is the creed of Cody Sprattmoran, who coordinates a chapter of Parenting Communities at
Leelanau Children’s Center in Northport. Parenting Communities exist to promote healthy children living in nurturing, stable families supported by strong communities.
A family support program operated at several sites in Leelanau County, it offers families well-timed, appropriate, and valuable support, through education and socialization during the early years of parenting--both inside and outside the home.
Coordinators like Sprattmoran are situated in Glen Lake and Suttons Bay elementary schools and at both of the Leelanau Children’s Centers--one in Leland and a second site in Northport. Their care and encouragement isn’t limited to site-based assistance; coordinators make regular home visits to review family needs, celebrate parental and childhood successes, and provide other guidance and encouragement right in families’ living rooms, kitchens, and play areas.
"Sometimes I play with the kids on the floor while I talk to the parents," Sprattmoran says. "Sometimes we talk while they make dinner. Whatever works for them."
Although the Parenting Communities programs are in Leelanau County, any family with children from birth to age five can participate in some or all of the program activities at any site, regardless where they live or what their income level.
Among Sprattmoran’s program participants are migrant workers, professionals, educators, community leaders, farmers, and religious leaders. The program is for anyone who needs guidance with parenting. Raising small children, after all, is no small undertaking no matter what a family’s socio-economic status.
Some parents may need assistance finding childcare and transportation; others seek guidance for relationships within the home, while others require help with the most basic of needs, like housing, food, and health care.
Sprattmoran partners with local human service agencies to help families access--and become aware of--a range of supportive resources that offer health and dental care, breastfeeding support, childhood development screenings, and social and emotional assistance. She also works closely with area schools on issues young students face, such as developmental delays, transitions into school, and relationships in the school setting.
Potluck-style parent education groups are held monthly, with sessions focusing on topics like education, nutrition, and literacy. Sprattmoran holds family play sessions at beaches and parks as well, weather permitting, during the weekly meetings she holds after school during the academic year.
The five strength-based factors that shape the framework of Parenting Communities are: social connections for everyone, because every family member needs friends; parental resilience, so that parents can remain strong and flexible; a grasp of parenting and childhood development, because some parenting skills come naturally and some are learned; knowledge of the social and emotional competence of children; and the ability to access concrete support for early educational resources like Head Start or other programs that help build family assets.
Sprattmoran believes this type of work can be a conduit to improved physical health, school success, and happiness--factors that generate more robust, resilient members of communities and of society.
"I would love for every child to live in a stable, nurturing environment," she says. "Every family deserves to be supported and cared for this way. It leads to stronger communities, a stronger state, and even a stronger country."
Kelle Barr is a Portage-based freelance reporter who can be reached at Kellebarr@gmail.com or on Twitter at @BarrKelle
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