Dea Wright has some advice for parents of young children: “Let them spill milk.”
Wright, director and sole employee of the city of Milwaukee’s Office of Early Childhood Initiatives, believes that if we let kids make little decisions now, the experience will help them build the ability to make bigger and better decisions later.
Since 2018, Wright, a mother of five herself, has guided the office’s mission to support the social and emotional development and cognitive growth of Milwaukee’s youngest residents – from birth to 3 years old.
“The more I interact with families, I have found we all have a lot of the same problems, especially when it comes to raising children,” she says. “You can never assume or judge, looking for a one-size-fits-all.”
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
Much of Wright’s work with OECI has included connecting families to community organizations that provide free or low-cost early childhood education, supplies, clothing, parenting classes and more. For example, Wright (working as OECI) has helped thousands of families secure the free diapers provided by Milwaukee Diaper Mission.
She has supplied more than 1,000 families whose babies were born at Ascension St. Joseph Campus with a diaper bag of practical necessities (diapers, books, onesies) as part of her office’s Welcome to Milwaukee Project.
Wright says the office has the flexibility to be responsive to anything that supports babies’ development, and she believes these resources – and the experiences young parents share together around them – matter immensely. She collectively calls them Mighty Small Moments, “a movement to support parents as the first teacher,” she says, “to create experiences for families that when they go back to their homes, they have these moments that they can look back on.”
And Wright has just opened a new hub for those experiences. The OECI’s new location in the YWCA on North MLK Boulevard is bathed in natural light, with an office for community partners and a play area for children. It’s conceived as a safe space for Milwaukee parents to cultivate and celebrate the art of parenting. And, of course, to let the kids spill the milk as they learn the art of being human.
“Parents want the best but can’t always deliver the best because of their circumstances, being isolated or just not having the bandwidth to raise or work with children,” Wright says. “And some people don’t realize this until they’re in it.”
Connect with the city’s Office of Early Childhood Initiatives at mke4kids.com or on Instagram @mightysmallmoments. Or drop into the OECI’s new play area, 1915 N. Martin Luther King Dr., from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Mondays and Thursdays.
