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Date
Dr.
Christopher Koch
Interim
State Superintendent
Illinois
State Board of Education
100 N 1st Street
Springfield,
IL 62777
Dear
Superintendent Koch,
Parents
are our first teachers, and yet they receive no training. Why is
that?
Wouldn’t
it further the cause of educating Illinois youth, to have their
first teachers, their parents, arriving for the first day of their
jobs with their “parenting diplomas” in hand?
The
easiest way to reach ALL Illinois potential parents is to prepare
future parents – to provide child-rearing classes for children
and teens.
Recent
research has taught us how early experiences shape children’s
physical and mental growth. We learned how different parenting practices
influence children’s development and behavior. Why not impart
this knowledge to children and teenagers before most of them become
parents? Why not prepare them to raise physically and mentally healthy
children?
Parenting
classes can address issues of abuse and neglect which can cause
permanent neurological damage that impairs the ability to concentrate,
to reason, to control impulses, to empathize with others and learn
from the consequences of behavior.
To
help improve the academic performance of tomorrow’s children
and schools, Illinois potential parents need to know that everyday
interactions with children zero to three can be extremely powerful
in shaping language development, reading and the learning capacity
of their future children.
Parenting
preparation can enhance the capacity for nurturing and maintaining
healthy relationships among today’s children and teens, preventing
violence and teen pregnancy.. Currently Family and Consumer Science
teachers across Illinois teach child development and parenting to
Illinois middle school and high school students in only a smattering
of classrooms.
Knowledge
is power, and there is arguably no human endeavor in which its application
is so fitting and so crucial. Parenting preparation will make a
significant difference in the ways future parents raise their children.
We
are proud of our state’s efforts to provide universal pre-school
for Illinois children. Add parenting education in the schools and
perhaps we’ll save some Illinois children from being broken
before they even get to preschool.
Superintendent
Koch, we ask you to begin plans to provide parenting education for
all students in our schools sometime before they graduate from high
school. As a beginning, we encourage you to visit www.PrepareTomorrowsParents.org
where you can find out more about what is being done throughout
the nation to prepare tomorrow’s parents.
Sincerely,
Return
to the Illinois Prepare Tomorrow's Parents Month Index Page
Return
to Prepare Tomorrow's Parents Month Index Page
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