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Parents are a child s first and most important teacher.
While this phrase may have seemed radical only a decade ago, popularly held perspectives on the role of the parent have come a long way. Now this phrase has even found its way into legislation, as family literacy has become a key component of adult and workforce education. Despite the popularity of the rhetoric, however, what family literacy has meant in many contexts is a structured model that combines education and training for the parent, education for the child, and educational activities for parent and child together. These activities are important components of the support that parents provide to children. Traditional family literacy models often overlook and even invalidate the myriad ways in which parents of diverse cultural backgrounds support their children to be successful.