Connecting With the Community: Your Role as a Parent Educator

Ever wonder why some things never get started in certain towns or communities or when it does get started it's almost always the same people involved? That question occurred to a mother, I'll call, Mrs. Belt, the other day. Here's one perspective from a Northeast Missouri resident, who'll remain anonomysi. The Belts have lived some 30 years in a small community. Their two children have grown up and, like many children, have left the community. One is an auto mechanic in a large eastern city, the other is a dental hygienist in the Midwest. Mrs. Belt reminisced about the years gone by--when the children were young. "We never had much in this town--the kids never had a playground; and when they were older, they had nowhere to go on weekends. It was devastating to Mr. Belt when Joe left to take a job as a mechanic over East. His father worked hard to build up the service station and garage so Joe would have a good business--then he up and left! If I had it to do over again, things would have been different."

Finding her in a talkative mood, I encouraged Mrs. Belt to share her thoughts about what would have been different. One generation can learn from another, I figured. She went on, AI guess Mr. Belt and I never realized how we might have changed the community. We always were busy doing our own things, and I must admit we were critical about how "they were running the town. It's too bad we didn't recognize we had something to give to our community earlier. Instead we just sorta lived here, bemoaning the fact that our two kids didn't have anything to do or any place to go. Maybe that's had something to do with the fact both our children left town."

"Parents teach by what they do", she commented. Children learn many important life-long lessons from their parents, she went on.. A parent provides a model of behavior for the child. If the parent is aware of community concerns, is involved in the community and above all is committed to the hometown--then the child learns this from the earliest years.

Complaining about a situation is not the solution to a problem. Much human energy is wasted. Mrs. Belt could have identified the need for a community playground for the children. Certainly there were others in her neighborhood who would have supported her and together they could have sought some solution to this problem. But no one stepped forward--no one took the initiative.

Many communities are faced with important critical problems. In too many of these communities, only a few people are interested. Sometimes these few are the same few who seem to control almost everything that happens. It stands to reason that if these are the only people who are doing something to help improve the community, they are the ones who control the destiny of the entire area. If more people, ordinary people, became involved, then the will of the majority would indeed be expressed. Change will occur. The question for each of us is whether we will help direct that change or simply feel the effects of the change. Helping to direct change means getting involved in the affairs of the community. It will take time. However, the time requirements must be balanced with the time each of us owes to our family. Creative parents look for ways to involved the children in community affairs.

Make a Great Day!