Maryland Public Television celebrates moms and dads
National Family Week begins November 18

OWINGS MILLS, MD: Public television is based in the well-being of the family as the gateway to the well-being of the community. To celebrate families and family ties with insightful programming and activities is at the heart of what Maryland Public Television (MPT) does. MPT celebrates families year-round, but during National Family Week, November 18-24, we offer some special programs, interviews, and online activities at mpt.org.

Monday through Friday, at 6 p.m. and repeated at 11:30 p.m. viewers can ask the questions they've always wanted to ask of family-focused guests on MPT's Direct Connection with Jeff Salkin. Topics include: single fatherhood, strengthening marriage, and children and divorce.

On Sunday, November 18, at 5 p.m. motherhood is explored in Moms. What rewards does it offer? What problems does it present? Women from various walks of life come together in this program to share their personal experiences in being moms. From childbirth to first steps to nursery school to college, these mothers explain the difference between the dream and the reality of motherhood, their own methods of raising and disciplining their children, and the stages they've undergone as their children have grown and fought for autonomy. A colorful and endearing collage of memories, Moms is a program that will make any new or experienced mother cry and laugh at the same time.

In Take This Heart on Monday, November 19 at 9 p.m. heart strings are pulled during this touching tale of three foster children. Robert, age ten, has been transported between five homes because of his biological parents' abuse and neglect. At the age of fourteen Jamil has lived with eighteen foster families because of his mother's uncontrollable cocaine addiction, and seventeen-year old Joaquin has been a foster child since his mother's incarceration for the statutory rape of him and his brother. The lives of these three boys connect through their placement with foster care provider Tess Thomas and her assistant Rodger Pegues. Viewers follow Tess and Rodger as they work to instill values into the children and raise their forgotten self-esteems, while still having to battle the bureaucracy of the "system."

On Wednesday, November 20, at 10 p.m. Fatherhood USA shines a light on community support for fathers and juggling family and work. The program looks at several young men in Baltimore and Boston whose desire to be good fathers is finding support in the community. It shows the possibilities - and the persisting dilemmas - when fathers receive help with parental education, job training and employment and also shows what can happen beyond stereotypes, when men in fragile families find an environment that values and supports their importance as fathers.

On Sundays, at 3 a.m., beginning November 25, Nuestros Niños (Our Children) is a Spanish-language series offering guidance and sensitivity on parenting children from birth to age 8 in the areas of health, education and play. Topics include the importance of communications in preventing misunderstandings. A teenage mother of three talks about the hard reality of life, of being cut off by her father, and the difficulties she has faced; setting limits for your children and techniques that might make it easier; haircuts for children and a hair salon specially designed for them.

Maryland Public Television is a not-for-profit, state-licensed public television station which serves the citizens and communities of Maryland and beyond through a variety of broadcast and nonbroadcast activities.

With the goal of strengthening families in our communities, National Family Week is supported nationally and locally by The Annie E. Casey Foundation.

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