5 - Parents as First Teachers

Abstract

This chapter discusses the model developed by Burton White for educating parents as the child's first and most important teachers. In this model, prospective parents begin a course of study in their child's third trimester of gestation to help them prepare for the baby's arrival. The goal of the parent education model designed by White and his associates is to strengthen the capacity of families to be their children's first educational delivery system. Two major premises of the model are—(1) the informal education that families provide for their children makes more of an impact on the child's total educational development than the formal educational system; and (2) two years of age is already too late to begin to look at a child's educational development. The chapter describes the components of the parent education program developed for the model.