Open Minded
Learning to be More Open Minded
Head Start is a government funded pre-school program. This program is available to low-income families, foster children, and children who have a parent in jail or prison. Our goal is to help these children be prepared for kindergartens; as well as helping their families make better choices for their futures. We offer services to help them succeed in life and become more involved in their community. A few services we offer are GED classes, monthly classes on topics to help them in raising their children, as well as health and dental services. Many of our families do not have a vehicle or only have limited access to one, so we do help with transportation to and from doctor appointments and back and forth to school. The centers offer monthly classes to help caretakers with many subjects such as nutrient ion and diet. The majority of our families are on public aid, receiving food stamps, and often purchase processed foods because of the cost. Our hope is to show them ways to stretch their dollars as well as give families a well-balanced meal. Our classes also include budgeting, teaching your child how to have high self-esteem, and how to deal with temper tantrums. Although these do seem like basic life skills many of our parents were never taught these skills.
During my first few weeks at Head Start I found myself being very judgmental. It was hard for me to sit and listen to how bad these parents said they had it, only to watch them come in wearing clothes and using phones that were way out of my budget. My parents always taught us that your children’s needs come first. So to me, seeing them with all of these material items yet, applying for a free pre-school program was a bit hard to swallow. Some days I it made me question my choice to work for a government run program. After many nights of thinking and discussing it over with my husband I decided that I was there for the kids not their parents. The students
Head Start is a government funded pre-school program. This program is available to low-income families, foster children, and children who have a parent in jail or prison. Our goal is to help these children be prepared for kindergartens; as well as helping their families make better choices for their futures. We offer services to help them succeed in life and become more involved in their community. A few services we offer are GED classes, monthly classes on topics to help them in raising their children, as well as health and dental services. Many of our families do not have a vehicle or only have limited access to one, so we do help with transportation to and from doctor appointments and back and forth to school. The centers offer monthly classes to help caretakers with many subjects such as nutrient ion and diet. The majority of our families are on public aid, receiving food stamps, and often purchase processed foods because of the cost. Our hope is to show them ways to stretch their dollars as well as give families a well-balanced meal. Our classes also include budgeting, teaching your child how to have high self-esteem, and how to deal with temper tantrums. Although these do seem like basic life skills many of our parents were never taught these skills.
During my first few weeks at Head Start I found myself being very judgmental. It was hard for me to sit and listen to how bad these parents said they had it, only to watch them come in wearing clothes and using phones that were way out of my budget. My parents always taught us that your children’s needs come first. So to me, seeing them with all of these material items yet, applying for a free pre-school program was a bit hard to swallow. Some days I it made me question my choice to work for a government run program. After many nights of thinking and discussing it over with my husband I decided that I was there for the kids not their parents. The students