Finding Footing as a First-Time Parent
The confidence and community Chelsea Gamas gained through the Parent-Child Education Program helped her family get off to a strong start.
Chelsea Gamas participated in the AVANCE Parent-Child Education Program (PCEP) through a multi-year randomized controlled trial conducted in Hidalgo County, Texas, by Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research. She recently shared her experience participating in PCEP.
When Chelsea Gamas became a first-time mother, she wanted what every parent wants—to give her daughter the best possible start in life.
“I wanted to make sure that I was doing the best that I possibly could for her socially, emotionally, and academically,” Chelsea said. “I wanted to make sure I was raising a smart, intelligent, confident little girl.”
At the time, Chelsea was pregnant with her second child and looking for guidance, support, and a community of parents facing many of the same questions. That’s when she found the AVANCE Parent-Child Education Program (PCEP).
One idea immediately resonated: parents are their children’s first teachers, and the home is their first classroom.
“That automatically hooked my husband and me,” she recalled. “We firmly believe in that.”
Each week, Chelsea attended parenting classes while her young daughter participated in early learning activities just across the hall. Knowing her daughter was learning in a safe, nurturing environment gave Chelsea peace of mind while she learned practical strategies she could immediately use at home.
The lessons extended well beyond child development milestones. PCEP encouraged parents to advocate for their children, ask questions, seek resources, and recognize that they didn’t have to navigate parenting alone. It also gave Chelsea a community of other parents she could lean on.
“The curriculum was great, but also just having other parents with me in the classroom gave me a sense of belonging,” she said. “I was with parents who had the same goal. They wanted to be hands-on parents. They wanted to be present.”
Over the nine-month program, Chelsea noticed changes not only in her daughter, but in herself.
“It gave me the confidence to tell myself, ‘You can do it,'” she said. “The struggles that you’re going through are going to be worth it once you overcome them.”
That confidence translated into patience, endurance, and a deeper commitment to being an engaged parent. Chelsea still treasures many of the handmade toys and books she created during PCEP classes and continues to use the skills she learned years later.
“I still have the little horse we made. I remember the books that we made and the importance of reading to my children every day,” she said. “Now I’m making birthday crowns for my children by hand, and I can proudly say, ‘Mommy made this for you.'”
That impact carried over to everyday family life. Rather than limiting learning to formal lessons, Chelsea began turning ordinary moments into opportunities for growth through conversation and exploration.
“Everything that we do at home is a teachable moment,” she said. “Whether it’s their emotions, how they treat each other, or reading a book and asking questions. It all came from PCEP. It helped me build a foundation that I could carry on and build on top of.”
Chelsea kept applying what she had learned, which eventually led her and her husband to take on a larger role in their children’s education at home.
“My four-year-old is reading at a first- or second-grade level,” she shared. “Everything that my children know is because of me and my husband, because of the family that we have and the support that we have.”
Several years after completing the program, Chelsea still credits PCEP with helping shape the parent she is today.
“I’m very privileged and honored to say that because of Miss Lala and Miss Susie giving me that boost for those nine months, here we are three or four years later, and it’s still going on at home,” she said. “PCEP gave me the confidence and the fuel to keep going.”
Chelsea’s experience reflects the findings of the randomized controlled trial of PCEP: when parents are equipped with knowledge, confidence, and support, the benefits extend beyond the classroom and continue long after the program ends. For Chelsea, those lessons became the foundation for how her family learns, grows, and thrives together.
Learn more about PCEP at avance.org/pcep and explore the findings of the study at avance.org/rct.