Parents today are balancing the demands of work, child care, and household responsibilities while striving to nurture their children’s growth. Low-wealth families have the added worry of limited resources; families of color also face systemic oppressions. This results in chronic stress, isolation, and parenting from a place of survival rather than intention.
Experts report that these realities create a cycle: parents who are stressed out bring that tension into their interactions with their kids. Without having a parent/peer network to turn to, parents often end up having to attend impersonal, structured social service programs that feel more like punishment and rarely have facilitators with shared lived experiences.
That’s where an innovative collaboration comes into play – Parents Growing Together (PGT). Children First and First Up, with backing from PNC and the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey, designed an initiative to interrupt the cycle of parent/child tensions with a different approach: voluntary, culturally grounded, and rooted in peer leadership.