Heidi Petermeier

Program Officer II

Office: (702) 257-5588
Fax: (702) 222-3100
Email: heidip@unr.edu
Address: 8050 Paradise Road, Suite 100, Las Vegas, Nevada 89123-1904
Representing: Clark County - Las Vegas, Nevada
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Summary

Partners in Parenting promotes positive parenting and child health and development, thereby preventing child abuse and other poor childhood outcomes. The first five years of life have a significant effect on children's development and learning and parents play the most important role during this time. Parenting education and support are key to raising successful children, creating confident parents and building strong families and communities. Extension's Partners in Parenting offers numerous parenting educational programs and resources, primarily for those with children 0-5 years of age.

Programs
Publications

Programs

Diverse Children in Circle Around Safety Lock

Exploring Safety: A program for families with young children

This four-week program is designed to improve awareness of important child safety issues and to increase parenting knowledge

Two women read a book with a little girl at a Family Storyteller workshop

Family Storyteller Literacy Program

National award-winning Family Storyteller is a literacy program aimed at encouraging and training parents to play a vital role in the literacy development of their children. The statewide program creates an opportunity for parents and young children to interact around literacy and language activities.

Fun to Play

The program targets families where, due to the young age, inexperience or limited resources of the parents, young children are placed at-risk for developmental delays and later school difficulties.

Fun to Play for Preschoolers

This 8-week program encourages positive-parent child interaction and learning through creative play. It also promotes children’s school readiness skills. Each week emphasizes a Nevada Pre-K standard.

Let's Discover STEM

Let’s Discover STEM (Descubramos STEM) is a 7-week program that focuses on STEM enhancement and parent engagement for families with preschoolers and kindergarteners.

Photo collage of parents and children cooking together.

Little Books & Little Cooks

Healthy eating, family literacy and positive parent-child interaction is promoted in this 7-week program for families with preschool aged children. It also promotes children's school readiness skills. An important component of the program is the involvement of both parents and children, especially during the hands-on cooking activities.

Partners in Parenting

The first five years of life have a significant effect on children’s development and learning and parents play the most important role during this time. Partners in Parenting offers many educational programs, workshops and resources primarily for parents with young children (0-5 years of age) to support healthy child development, school readiness skills, and positive parent-child interaction.

Positive Connections for Parents & Teenagers

Understanding teenage behavior and increasing parenting knowledge and skills is explored in this 4-week program for parents with adolescents.

Raising Your Relative's Kids: How to Find Help

As part of the family support program Kinship Families, Raising Your Relative's Kids: How to Find Help is a resource guide for kinship caregivers caring for children in out-of-home placement. We offer an informational website using the 100+ page resource guide, which is also available in print and on CD, including a Spanish version.

News & Journal Articles, Fact Sheets, Reports...

Fact Sheets
Impostor Syndrome and Parenting: What Is It and How to Overcome It Impostor syndrome involves feeling like a fraud despite one’s achievements and worry someone will find out about it. It can cause feelings of anxiety and affect relationships. Parents experience impostor syndrome when they doubt their own parenting capabilities, but it is possible to overcome these feelings. Kim, Y. and Petermeier, H. 2023, Extension, University of Nevada, Reno, FS-23-23
Avoid labeling your child Parents (also caregivers and adults) easily label children without consciously realizing it. Labeling children typically entails using an adjective to describe a child's character, behavior or appearance (e.g., shy, bossy, picky eater, always crying, etc.). What adult says carries a lot of weight with children. YaeBin Kim and Heidi Petermeier 2019, Extension Fact Sheet-19-13
Family Storytelling and the Benefits for Children Parents are encouraged time and time again to read stories from books with their young children, as the benefits are many – improved literacy skills, increased school success, parent-child bonding, developing a lifetime interest in reading and more. YaeBin K. and H. Petermeier 2016, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, FS-16-07
Summer Safety for Older Adults This fact sheet contains information on summer safety for older adults to help them stay healthy and active. Learn more about different activities an older adult can do to live longer and prevent danger to one's health. Collins, C. and Petermeier, H. 2011, Extension \| University of Nevada, Reno, FS-11-04
Creating an Autobiography: A Family Keepsake This fact sheet contains information on ways older adults can begin to write their autobiography or life stories. Collins, C., Petermeier, H. 2009, Extension \| University of Nevada, Reno, FS 09-03
Creating an Autobiography: Starting the Process This fact sheet contains information on ways older adults can begin to write their autobiography or life stories. Collins, C., Petermeier, H. 2009, Extension \| University of Nevada, Reno, FS 09-02
Preventing Falls in Your Home This fact sheet contains extensive information on ways to prevent the risk of falling in one's home. Collins, C. and Petermeier, H. 2007, Extension \| University of Nevada, Reno, FS-07-24
Preparing, Cooking, & Storing Food Safely This fact sheet contains several examples and solutions to preparing, cooking, and storing food safely. Collins, C. and Petermeier, H. 2006, Extension \| University of Nevada, Reno, FS-06-02
Food Safety in the Kitchen This fact sheet explores food safety in the kitchen by understanding how to avoid cross-contamination, safe food handling, proper cutting boards, and many more. Petermeier, H. and Collins, C. 2006, Extension \| University of Nevada, Reno, FS-06-01
Winter Safety for Older Adults This fact sheet contains information on ways older adults can stay healthy and active during the winter. Learn about the illness and accidents an older adult can fact if they are not healthy and ways to prevent it. Collins, C. and Petermeier, H. 2001, Extension \| University of Nevada, Reno, FS-11-02