PAT Graduating Class of 2003
By, Esmeralda Servin
Where friendships and learning exists, lives and communities are transformed.
Just ask the 18 mothers who graduated this year, from the Parents as Teachers (PAT) Program.
They’ll tell you about the learning, experimenting, and success they’ve seen thanks to the PAT program and its leaders.
The mothers and their children celebrated the end of the Parents as Teachers program with a graduation ceremony in June at the City Heights Weingart Library.
The small room on the upstairs level of the library was familiar territory for these women. It was there that they spent months attending meetings and learning.
Now, the same room was host to this year’s PAT graduation.
The graduates’ children, mostly under three-years-old, wore miniature versions of the traditional cap and gown. They could barely secure their places on the chairs. Mothers ran around the room trying to get their children to sit still as the kids pulled and tugged at their graduation attire.
But it was clear that the mothers in the room had developed a bond with each other. They had created a support group, with the help of PAT.
More importantly, they developed a bond with the three women who helped them through the program, Maria Barraza, Claudia Monroy and Lourdes Vera.
As Barraza called their names, one by one the mothers stood in front of the room and shared an experience of how PAT has helped them and their children.
Some of the women shared experiences of how they were taught basic parenting skills that made a big difference.
“It helped with my child’s temper tantrums and teaching her how to go to the bathroom, said Isabel Valencia.
Others were disappointed to see the end of the program.
“I found a great friend in Maria,” said Maria Miranda.
“But just because I’m not going to pay any more home visits, doesn’t mean I’m still not part of their lives,” said Barraza.
The Parents as Teachers (PAT) program, began as a pilot project in 1981 in St. Louis, Mo. It was created to put an emphasis on parent education and family support, in order to enhance a child’s development from birth to three years of age.
Now, the program has been modified to serve the low-income, multicultural population of Mid-City. PAT is a nationally acclaimed, home-based prevention program that empowers parents to give their children the best possible start in life.
The classes are taught in Spanish, making it easier for the mothers to participate.
Graduation marks the beginning of a new phase for the child.
Upon successful completion of the program, the child is then referred to Head Start—a program aimed at increasing school readiness of young children in low-income families.
But as Maria Barraza explained to the room full of graduates, the most important and toughest job you’ll ever have is to be a parent.
“The program finishes, but not your job as parents,” she said.