Hello. Our next topic in the early childhood series is family engagement. Family engagement is important for your program because you want the families to feel comfortable with you and talking to you and leaving your child in your program, and you also want them to be involved in their child's education. Just to quote, to start, "Family engagement refers to the systematic inclusion of families in activities and programs that promote children's development, learning, and wellness, including in planning, development, and evaluation." Why are positive relationships with the families and the parents and new program important? Well, positive relationships. It can lead toward positive school experiences and performances. If the child sees that their parent and their teacher have a good relationship and they're talking often and the parent is involved in the child's schooling, they are more likely to have positive experiences, positive feelings about school, and better performance. Positive relationships have a strong foundation for communication. If you have a good relationship with a family or a parent, it's easier for you to talk to them about concerns, about questions, and it's easier for them to come and talk to you about concerns or questions also. Families and caregivers, they have special knowledge about their child. They know their children's experiences. They know their child's likes and dislikes. They understand their child's temperament, so having that conversation with families and parents at the beginning and asking all of those questions really helps you to help the child succeed. Positive relationships. They strengthen the emotional health and the trust of the children and the families that you care for. They create support for extended learning. If you have those positive relationships and the parents are involved in your program, then they are more likely to do the activities and continue the child's learning at home. They model positive relationships. The child sees the parent and the caregiver having conversations and talking to each other, and that's a great modeling tool. How do we foster this relationship with parents? Communication with families and parents should be clear, consistent, and frequent. We need to make sure that what we are saying that they can understand and we need to talk to them continuously, daily about positive things, about questions or concerns, whatever it is. But we need to have that ongoing continuous communication. We need to foster two-way communication. Meaning we're not just always saying this is what happened, this is what happened, but we're asking questions of the families and parents and trying to get responses for them. Two-way communication, it shows that we value what the parents have to say. Use multiple modes, yes, face-to-face communication is probably the best forum, but you might want to use emails, you might want to use text messages, you might want to use some app. Newsletters are great. Bulletin board that gives information to parents. All of that different ways that parents might want to receive communication. We want to understand the family's expectations that can form such a good relationship if we understand what the families expect and we talk to them about those expectations and how we can incorporate that into the child's learning shows that we value what they believe, and watch for their child. We need to make sure that everything we're saying to the parent is not a concern. Yes, we need to voice concerns to parents but we also need to talk about positive experiences. It could just be your child played in the dramatic play area today and they were taking on roles and they were doing this and they were doing that. So just giving any information to parents to form that good relationship is important. We need to show respect for family's differences and for their practices, and asking questions is the best way to do that. We need to demonstrate openness to change. We might have families that come in with beliefs and values that we have never considered and thought about so we need to be able to be flexible in what we're doing in our lessons with the children. Responding to family's wishes and needs. Again, communication is so important here, asking questions, what do they hope for their child? What are their goals for their child in your program? Helping families identify and connect to resources in your community, you should know what is available for people in your community. If a parent comes to you and they're short on money this week and they don't have enough to buy groceries. We need to know where the food pantries are in our community that they can go and utilize. If something happens and it's wintertime and their furnace breaks, where can we send them for help in fixing their furnace? It's important to know those community resources. For information like that, we also need to think about where they can go for evaluations, and that kind of resource too, and have a strength based attitude. Always look at the families for their positive, what is positive about that child? What is positive about that family? Engaging with sensitive topics, so these are concerns for the child or difficult things that the parent might not want to talk about or here is going to happen. So, when you are thinking about this, you need to be prepared to meet with a parent. It's not just at pickup, you drop something on them. You're getting your information ready. You're talking with other people, another person, going back-and-forth on what you might say, you're setting up an appointment with the family, so you actually have time to sit down and discuss any concerns. The sandwich method, I don't know if you've heard of it, but it's something that is often talked about when talking about conferences or difficult conversations with people. You begin with their strengths, you go into the meat of the topic or their concerns and then you end with strengths also. So they're starting out with a positive tone, they're ending in a positive and they stuck in-between. Gets sandwiched in-between. Respect each family's differences, so you need to understand the values and the beliefs of the families people that you come in and talk to them, because everyone is different and mine are no more important than yours. Recognize that each family has a story. There's so many things we don't know about these children and families coming in to our centers, in our classrooms, in our homes, and judging them on what we think, our beliefs, our values, our experiences are, is not a good idea. So I have to necessarily know everything about that child, but you need to make sure that you understand a little bit of where they're coming from and that you're not judging them based on your own experiences. Repair the physical and emotional environment, so if you are having a meeting with a parent and it might have some difficult information in there, you want to make sure that you're in a place that's private. Maybe have a box of tissues with you. Maybe have some water available for the parent. Make it comfortable. Reflect on your own perspectives. Again, you're not judging people based on your experiences, your beliefs, and your values, and make sure you're holding those back. Because this is another person and they have totally different experiences beliefs, and values. Learn about the family's perspective, and that is again, asking questions, ask questions and listen to those questions, and bring that into your goals for the child. Do not judge, I've said that many times, so that's very, important. Share your observations and documentation over the child, so if you have a meeting where you have a concern about a child, you want to make sure that you're coming into that meeting with written observations and documentation so that you can actually show the parents and the families what it is you are concerned about and specifically what that child is doing, and maybe talk about the milestones and why you're concerned, so this is what your child is doing and this is what is expected of a child at this age, so that they really understand why you are concerned. You want to support parental competence, so these parents always have the best interests of their child and they have good attributes and they have good parenting skills in some areas, so make sure that you find out what those are and you bring those in. Be flexible. Again, you don't know what the parent is going to say and you might have to change your direction depending upon the reactions and the conversation you have with the parents. Be present. Make sure that your phone is not on, make sure your computer unless you're using it for documentation, your email notifications are not on, so it's blinking every time. Turn your phone ringer off in your office for a little bit, it can go to voicemail, that's okay. Be present for that person. Use active listening, making sure that you're understanding what the families are saying. Repeating back to them so that they know that you understand what they're saying and that makes sure that you're not putting your own ideas in there. Use silence and response time. If you say something and you're expecting a response, don't butt in if the parent doesn't respond right away. Sometimes you need a little bit of time to process what people are saying to you before that you give a response, so allow that. Sit back, wait for what the parent has to say. Body language is really important. We all have heard that sometimes your body language speaks more than your words. Watch for the body language. If a parent is saying something, but their body language just showing you something else, make sure that you stop and you discuss that a little bit more or you give them a little bit more time for whatever it is they need. Assure the parent, we are always thinking about what is best for the child as parents and as caregivers. Make sure that the parent understands that you really are doing this for the child, whatever it is, whether it's you're referring for an evaluation. You're not referring for an evaluation because you want your classroom to run smoother or whatever you want the child to succeed. If they need a little bit of extra to succeed, then that is what they need. Follow up after a meeting. The next day, two days later, call the parent up and say, have you had a chance to think a little bit more about this? Do you want to meet again? Have you followed through on any of the suggestions that we discussed in our meeting? This is what's happening here, is anything happening at home, follow up with the parent. Again, community resources are very important. Make sure you know what is available in your community. Types of family and involvement. When we think about family involvement in your program, most often you think about volunteering parents coming in, volunteering in your classroom, going on field trips, whatever it is. But really, if a parent shows support for their child and they show support for their child's education. They are expanding upon what you're doing and they're continuing your ideas at home. They're reading to their child at home. They're giving them experiences that are great learning experiences for them. That is a great family involvement piece for a child's education. Don't just think a parent asked to come in and volunteer to show that they're supporting their child's education. Communicating. Parents hopefully are communicating with you as much as you're trying to communicate with them. Make it comfortable for them. Show them that you think, what they say is important. Volunteering, yes, is a good way to get parents involved in your room, then they can see what is happening in your room. They can understand what their child is learning and the importance of play in their child's education. Learning at home. Like I said, if a child is really taking what you're doing in the classroom and they're practicing that at home, also, that really helps a child's development. Decision-making, involve them in some of your decision-making pieces in your program. Daily communication. It can be written, it can be verbal. There are many kinds of communication. You're talking at pickup and drop-off all the time. For infants and toddlers. Sometimes there are papers that you send home that talk about how much the child ate, when they slept, when you change their diaper, anything like that, the children can't communicate that information. You might not always have time and you won't remember unless you write it down. Having that communication with families helps them to be involved and understand what's happening in your program. Newsletters are another great way to involve any parents of any age children. Send communication in the home language. If you have a parent who English is not their first language. It's important for them to get your information in a way that they understand. There are apps out there. There's information on the internet for translation ideas. I know it's going to take more work but it's really important because the families and the parents won't be involved and feel involved and feel like you think they're important. If you are not going that extra mile for them. You might have a website, you might use some social media like a private Facebook page or you might consider writing a weekly blog that the parents have access to. I've listed some communication apps that centers around my area and family daycares use. Just some ideas you might have different ones in your area, whatever works best for you. Develop a supportive community. Make sure that the parents know that you're there for them. If you need them, you will give them assistance in their child's learning and community resources again, and even ideas for them to do with their children on the weekends. Provide all the information and make it feel like a community in your classroom. Conduct surveys. Put out surveys every once in awhile that ask questions of the parents. Are we doing this okay for you? What do you wish that we were doing differently? Whatever it is. But sometimes it's easier for parents to do something anonymously that they might not feel comfortable coming and talking to you about. Allow multiple volunteer opportunities in your classroom, and not all parents will be able to come in during your work day and their workday if they can't get time off. Maybe on a weekend, you're going to plant some flowers around your playground. Invite parents if they wanted to come and help you with that on a weekend when they might have more time or in the evening, but allow different times in different ways for parents to volunteer. Open houses are a really good way to allow families to see your center, stay there with their child, maybe meet other parents, meet other children and have some communication there. Accommodate work schedules. Make sure that you're opening and closing times are accommodating a parent's work schedules if it's possible for you. Also, like I said, allow them to come in and volunteer at different times if you have the need. Use technology. A lot of younger parents especially are so familiar with technology and that's the way they prefer things. If you're writing a newsletter, if you're sending information out, maybe do it through email or maybe do it through an e-newsletter. You can conferences, you can do over the telephone, over Zoom, however it is that involves the parents and gets them to communicate with you. Having parenting classes or workshops is a great idea. It's a lot of work but it benefits the whole community if you can do things like that. Events and fundraisers. You could have a fall fest in the evening. You might go to the zoo and have the parents and the families meet you there for some a field trip and fundraisers. Parents can feel involved sometimes in fundraisers if they can't do it in some other ways. Having a parent advisory groups. If you get together or maybe with a few people who knew community that have family daycares and have parents. A few parents from each center. Each family center come in once a month or twice a month or twice a year, however it is you want to do it and meet and talk about what their goals are, what their needs are, and get the information that way. I'm going to end with a quote again. "There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues and most dominating viewed virtues of human are created, strengthened and maintained." We need to remember parents are their child's first educators and they are the most important person in the child's life. Don't try and take the place of a parent but involve them as much as you can, ask them in questions as much as you can, show them that they are important. Thank you.
