We Celebrate & Support Parent Leaders Every Day of the Year.
While February—and thus Parent Leadership Month—ending, it’s important to remember that we need to celebrate and uplift parent voices every day of the year.
Parent Leadership isn’t complex, it’s all about elevating their “parent voice” to help shape the direction of their families and communities. Empowering parents to become leaders in their communities is one of the best things we can do to ensure children grow up to become self-reliant, self-sustaining individuals who contribute to society. Parent Leaders serve as resources and models for other parents in their community providing increased guidance and modeling about their newly learned behaviors. As a result, their children often take on leadership roles appropriate for their age, set and work towards goals, and model appropriate behavior for other children.
Nurture the Next is privileged to work with countless parents who are working hard to break the status quo and expand opportunities for their children. Here are two stories about parents who are going to extra mile for their children and their communities.
Danette is a survivor of domestic violence who emigrated from Jamacia to provide a better life for her daughter. Working with her Nurture the Next home visitor, she learned a wide range of skills that made her more confident in her parenting, helping to reassure she was making the best decisions for her daughter. So, when her daughter’s birthday fell just outside the deadline for Metro Public Schools, she took on the additional financial responsibility of sending her daughter for private school to ensure we did not fall behind her peers.
Not only does Danette care for her daughter, she’s also a leader for other parents and her community. Through Parent Cafes, community Facebook group engagements, and a variety of coalitions across Middle Tennessee, she is constantly advocating for resources and strategies to reduce violence in the home and promoting health and safe childhoods. She also serves as a voice for the voiceless as a committee member on the Family and Children Services Task Force Resilience committee and the Suicide Prevention Coalition.
Another parent leader we have had the honor of working with is Gladyn. After surviving domestic violence and sexual abuse, she knew that something had to change. She didn’t want to put her children into the kinds of vulnerable situations that she had been in and worked hard to break out of the cycle of abuse she was born into. With some assistance applying for grants, Gladyn was able to attend school to become a social worker. In this role she has continued to go above and beyond in giving back to her community.
She works directly with young adults, teaching them independent life skills. Many weeks she works far more than the usual 40-hour work week to ensure they have the support they need. Even when she is off the clock, she often finds herself working on CPS reports. Whether it’s children who report they are hungry on the school bus, children in foster care who say younger siblings are neglected or abused, or teens that report to their peers they are in danger of running away, Gladyn works to ensure that no child is neglected. She is a mentor for women in a support group and works closely with her church and the community to assist those facing domestic violence.
It's clear from both Danette’s and Gladyn’s stories that they are tremendous parents who are going above and beyond for their families and their communities. While they have incredible stories, even the simplest acts can have a profound impact on the community. That’s important for all of us to remember as February and Parent Leadership Month come to a close. While it’s fantastic to have a month dedicated to inspirational parents, it doesn’t mean that these parents aren’t working to make a difference the other 11 months of the year. That should inspire all of us to be the best version of ourselves not only for the children in our lives, but all the children in our communities.