Yusef asked as he watched his wife, Kazima. She’d leaned in toward their preteen son, looked him right in the eye, and told him, “It’s okay to feel angry, but it’s not okay to yell and throw things.” She took a breath. “But if you want, you can ask to walk away for a few minutes to calm down.”
Like she’d practiced in class, she wanted to validate her children’s feelings while clearly stating her expectations. And her husband saw it. Yusef knew that what she was learning was more than just English. It was making a difference in their home.
In our summer Family Literacy English program, moms are reminded that they can be powerful forces for good in their kids’ lives–emotionally, spiritually, behaviorally, and academically. This knowledge and support is even more needed in families who have left everything they know and are trying to find who they are in a new and very different place.
Even before the Family English term ended, Kazima told her teacher how she’d been practicing her parenting skills proactively, instead of ignoring bad behavior, yelling, or bribing her kids to encourage good choices. Instead of viewing it as the job of her children’s teachers, she now values reading with her children, and they are regularly going to the local library.
You are enabling Kazima and her classmates to engage actively as their child’s first and most important teacher.