As we look forward to another successful year, Kershaw County First Steps/Parents as Teachers program would like to take this opportunity to welcome our returning parents and our new parents to the 2018-2019 program.  We are so excited to be part of your family.  We extend to you our support team, resources, and referrals to make this a smooth and successful year.  With that in mind I would like to share these brief thoughts from authors Pearl S. Buck, “My Deep Belief” wrote, “my deep belief is that all human creatures deserve a happy childhood as a right and as a prerequisite to normal adulthood and that the first essential to happiness is love…”   From the “Sunshine of the Soul,” Dr. Robert L. Alexander writes of a little girl sat in her rocking chair hugging a beautiful doll.  She alternately kissed the doll, caressed it and spoke words of endearment.  Occasionally she glanced at her mother working at a desk on the other side of the room.  As soon as she put down her pen, the child ran to her, climbed on her lap, and said, “I’m so glad you are through, I wanted to love you so much.”  “Did you, darling?” the mother asked.  “I’m so glad, but I thought you were having a good time with your doll.”  “I was Mommie,” the little girl explained, “but I get tired of loving her because she never loves me back.”

Rudine McLeod, PAT Program Director
Kershaw County First Steps