After hearing from parents about the type of help they need, Tracee Perryman, CEO of Center of Hope Family Services, decided to craft workshops to meet those needs of balancing child rearing, work, and home.
The first workshop, “Elevating Wholeness,” gave parents information on life skills, techniques for integrating literacy into daily activities, and a cooking demonstration.
“There is an expectation that somehow we have to balance everything,” Ms. Perryman said. “Some parents feel judged by previous generations. We have to teach the skills needed to parent and give them tools for success.”
She is especially focused on helping lower-income families survive and thrive.
Ms. Perryman earned a doctorate from Ohio State University, where she also served as an instructor. She oversees the Center of Hope’s core initiatives in positive youth development and adult and family support services.
“We have to teach mothers to be more assertive in their lives and in their homes,” she said. “If not, moms get burned out trying to do everything. We have to get parenting knowledge out there and teach moms and dads the skills needed to teach kids.”
Ms. Perryman told those in attendance last week that the first day of school can be especially hard on families trying to make work, home, and new schedules for the children mesh.
“This is a time of excitement and also chaos, especially for families with multiple babies,” she said. “It can be overwhelming. We know that super successful children had access to information. They also had a desire to learn new things and to have an open mind. We have to figure out how to build life skills with limited time.”
Ms. Perryman offered parenting tips, including setting schedules for children and what the family will be doing for the day. She told parents to offer rewards if children complete what was on the schedule. They were told to have a conversation with their kids if the schedule was not completed.
“We should not be talking to a child too harshly, calling them names, or putting hands on them,” Ms. Perryman said.
Parents were given magnetic schedules to fill out at home, as well as information concerning teaching the alphabet to a 3-year-old by using food, and holding game nights with alphabet games to help with literacy.
Center of Hope co-founder Willetta Perryman, Tracee’s mother, then took parents through an easy recipe for chicken pot pie that used half of a pre-roasted chicken, mixed vegetables, a can of cream of chicken soup, chicken broth, and puff pastry dough. The creations were able to be taken home and cooked later.
Tracee Perryman reminded parents of the ELEVATE after-school program, which will start again in October. The goal of the program is to boost social-emotional learning and academic performance through quality after-school education programming.
The program serves students in the Toledo Public, Washington Local, Sylvania, and Springfield school districts.
“During ELEVATE, we will teach students how to effectively do age-appropriate chores,” Ms. Perryman said. “We will be asking parents to show evidence, including photos or videos, of their children completing the age-appropriate chores.”
Ms. Perryman said they will provide an age-appropriate goal over a month and track the number of times the parent reports progress toward that goal.
“Those children meeting their goal at the end of the month will be allowed to attend a pizza party,” she said.
Parents who attended the workshop said they learned many strategies they will employ at home.
“I loved this program,” Wazeda Wilson said. “I learned about time management and strategies for raising kids. I also learned a lot about balancing work and home life. I think it will help me a lot at home.”
Natalie Kalo, an elementary school counselor at Dorr Elementary in the Springfield schools, said the program has helped her with her children as well as other parents and children in the Springfield district.
“Dr. Perryman has been a wonderful resource for me and my twins,” Ms. Kalo said. “The partnership with her program will help our students immensely as well during the ‘24-’25 school year.”
Ms. Perryman said she expects to meet with parents monthly. The organization is in the process of polling parents for the best day and time.
Ms. Perryman has also recently launched her Elevate Wholeness podcast as well as a virtual learning center. Information on the podcast and the programs can be found at cohfs.org .
Individuals can make tax deductible donations to the program at cohfs.org/donor-overview .
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