Working full-time outside of the house, raising 3 children, running a business out of my home, AND finishing my college degree has been no easy task this past year, thanks to Covid throwing a massive wrench in the majority of my plans. Sadly, this means that I don't have time to do anything-like shower every day, let alone get out and have some "Me" time or see some of my grown-up friends!
Just this past week, I was lucky enough to have a very rare lunch date with one of my best girl friends. She, too, has children and recently graduated from Hays this past spring, and hasn't been having a good time at her job as of late. We spent our lunch munching on chips an salsa and reminiscing about our past life working at our city's Head Start Center. "Do you remember that day that we had to pull a marble out of Jackson's nose? Oh man, that kid was always putting things places that they shouldn't go..."
Unfortunately, 2 years ago our local Head Start program was cut from federal funding. Our Center, as well as 4 others in Rural Southwestern Kansas had to close their doors. My friend and I had worked for Head Start for years and had such a passion for working with our Littles and supporting their families. It was an absolute crush for us to hear this news but has been an even bigger shock to our community. In a small town such as this, early education is very limited due to our size and resources. Many of the families we served were very low-income and couldn't afford to put their children in daycare full-time. Head Start was such an important resource for our community and I truly hope someone is able to bring it back some day.
During my time with Head Start, my passion for working with families grew immensely. Yes, I've worked in Early Childhood my entire life in some way, but this was the first opportunity that I had to focus just as much attention on the FAMILIES I served, not just the student in my class! Just because my families were low-income or lived off of government assistance didn't mean that they were "any less" then other families in town, or that their children didn't deserve high-quality education and a warm, safe learning environment. There was nothing that I enjoyed more then watching my students grow and learn in our classroom, but also seeing their family grow and thrive with the additional support we provided in a variety of ways.
Parents need so much advice and support, no matter what their financial situation is! Just because someone has a lot of money doesn't mean they know how to raise a perfect child! Or, just because someone may not have a beautiful house means that they have terrible children. I'm very proud of the work that I did with the 13 families I served in our community, and still continue to have relationships with many of those families now, even years later. Of course I grew attached to my students, what teacher doesn't?! But it was more then that. They were part of my family, and still are.
We may have lost Head Start as a resource in our town but there is still so much more work to be done. Thankfully, we also have an excellent Parents as Teachers program here, who has a wonderful home visit staff that comes and provides support for families with young children in their own home. The work that these ladies do is nothing short of incredible and I hope to be one some day! Still, I can't help but think back to the time in my classroom. It was most certainly my happy place and each day was new and exciting. We never knew what our students would say or what they would stick up their nose!
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