Gov. Matt Blunt received much thanks this week during a rally in the Capitol Rotunda.

Blunt, a participant in the program, spoke about how he will continue to support the Parents as Teachers program, which was started in Missouri nearly 25 years ago. To do that, Blunt proposed giving Parents as Teachers a $2 million increase this year.

The organization, now based in St. Louis, helps parents with learning techniques for small children in all 50 states and eight countries outside the U.S.

“We don’t necessarily teach children,” said Carla Ingram, parent educator in Centralia Mo. “We are parent educators.

“We point out developmental milestones that their children should be working on. Really, we want the parents to do the teaching.”

Ingram said there are several different activities parents can do to teach their children what they should know before they start school.

“For example, at 13 months we’re working on sign language skills. Or we might have them drop a clothespin into a bottle to work on their eye-hand coordination and motor skills,” Ingram said.

Dr. Susan Stepleton, president and CEO of Parents as Teachers national center, said another activity all parents should do is read and talk to their children at an early age.

“That’s how a child learns language,” Stepleton said. “Even some well-educated parents don’t realize that.

“You can’t wait until your baby starts talking back to you to be engaging conversation.”

Which is why Parents as Teachers emphasizes that parents are in the best position to teach their children.

“The idea is that the parents have enough information about how important brain development is, how important language development is,” Stepleton said. “And how those happen in very young children.”

Stepleton said it’s free to join the Parents as Teachers program and all a parent would have to do is contact their local school district.