Non-profit helping parents become better teachers for kids who haven't started school yet
BOSTON - Parenting has its difficulties.
"We constantly say, parenting sucks! We constantly just say that," Karla Guerrero, the program director at First Teacher told WBZ-TV.
First Teacher is a non-profit in Roxbury that's helping parents become better teachers for their children who haven't started school yet.
They are called First Teacher because they believe parents are a child's first and most important teacher, brain builder and advocate.
"So we create spaces where families in Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan can come together and teach and learn and build habits," co-founder and co-director Dinah Shepherd told WBZ.
"We are not here to teach parents. We believe that parents already have the power and if they can be together in a safe community, they will actualize that power."
The focus is on making sure children are prepared when they enter kindergarten.
"I have a son who has autism and I didn't have those kinds of communities when he was first diagnosed. So for me to be able to be a space keeper for these parents, to be able to listen and actually be like, 'I get that,'" said parent leader Latisha Burns.
In this space, parents are sharing challenges that lead to some solutions.
"Because we are not like, this is what you have to do, parents are hearing what other parents are saying and they are like, 'Wow, I've never thought about that actually. Let me try that,'" Guerrero said.
When First Teacher started, it was just four families. But word of mouth has now pushed them to more than 300 families and different programs and community builders.
"My hope is that First Teacher extends out of this place. That it's in schools," Burns told WBZ.
For more information, visit their website.
