Imagine that you’re a four-year-old boy living in a small, rural town in Kansas. Now picture this: you and your parents are one of a few dozen people who receive an exclusive invitation to spend an evening exploring an airport hangar and all the planes it holds – and you even get to climb inside a cockpit. What could be better?
Partnering with the local airport manager, Travis Lattin, Beloit Parents as Teachers has offered this dream evening for the families in their care every autumn for the last seven years. The owner, who also builds planes, explains his work on the aircrafts and educates the children on the various uses for the planes they see – carrying people from place to place or spraying the fields in the agricultural area where they live.
“It’s just kind of a unique, fun thing for them to learn about,” said Amanda McGuire, one of the parent educators who organized the event. Her team creates other activities for the kids revolving around the airplane theme, as well; this year, they participated in gross motor and fine motor activities, as well as a sensory bin, at the event.
As part of the Parents as Teachers model, parent educators host monthly group connections, offering community engagement for the families receiving their services. In recognition of the significance of relational capital to support child and family development, every family for whom they provide home visitation also receives an invitation to these wider events.
The group connections can look different each month, but the airport visit is unique – not only because of the location and activities but also because of the audience it brings. New families are drawn to this opportunity, as are an unusually high number of fathers. Though they often see father attendance at home visits, group connections usually engage more mothers and children.
“It’s really neat when we can get the whole family there,” McGuire said. “It is just a different dynamic.”
The Beloit Parents as Teachers consortium has served residents of the community for over 30 years. In 2024 the program was named a Blue Ribbon Affiliate, the organization’s highest recognition for quality and fidelity standards.
