Purity in Partnership
Why Early Childhood Educator-Parent Partnership is important?
Parents are the very first teachers to their children. They are the first individuals to interact with their little one and nurture their development and learning while the second most significant impact on their child is the teachers or caregivers who facilitate childcare and early education. According to NYS Education Department such partnership includes parents and teachers working together to benefit children. When a child enters Little Spanish Garden (LSG), a parent’s partnership with the teachers ensures that this new venture is successful and comforting for all. Parents and teachers both have specifics and details that can be shared as part of an enduring reciprocal relationship. Together, they can play a great part in supporting the healthy development and learning of a child. To get the true benefits of an early childhood education program, parents are required to consider how they can support their child’s development and learning.
Benefits of Parental Involvement:
Most of the child’s cognitive development takes place in the early years. Parents active participation in the early childhood education process can help ensure that their little one has all the support they require to reach their full potential. Several studies regarding parental involvement express a strong relationship between parent participation and the educational achievement of children. Studies demonstrate that when parents take interest in their child’s learning it offers opportunities to extend teaching outside the school and provide encouragement to a child’s learning efforts. The earlier the parents get involved with their child, the more likely the pattern will persist. Apart from academic achievement, parental partnership aids in promoting parenting, parent-teacher relationships, and responsibility for learning.
Ways to Engage in your Child’s Early Education Process:
One of the greatest challenges for LSG early school educators is figuring out how to actively engage parents in each students learning process. At LSG communication is the key ingredient to fostering a positive and healthy partnership. Parents should meet the child’s teacher regularly. Ask about your child’s progress, areas to work on, behavior in the classroom, and ways to support educational activities at home. Share details about your child’s interests, skills, needs, expertise, and experiences. Actively participate in school activities including, parent-teacher meetings, school functions and class presentations. Visit the read-and-play programs with your child. This helps to foster the feeling of support in children and motivates them to do better. Take an active part in a child’s extracurricular activities. As a parent myself, please support and encourage them to participate in those activities. Besides assisting them in homework, plan activities including reading, singing rhymes, and wordplay with them. Helping them with arts and math skills at home can help to enhance their performance in the classroom. Practice with your child at home what he has learned in school. Plan educational trips with your child to libraries, museums, neighboring gardens, and science and discovery centers. It will provide them with an opportunity to apply the knowledge that they get in school to the real-life world. Ask your child about his day at school. Use open-ended questions like how was your day? What did you learn today? What was new about the day? This will provide the child with an insight to reflect on his learning.
In a nutshell, children whose parents actively participate in their educational process tend to achieve more and build strong and positive relations with their educators. Here an important reminder; when discussing parental participation or partnership, it is positive participation that is the focus. As, sometimes too much involvement makes a child dependent and reliant on parents, and occasionally educators frustrated. A healthy and balanced partnership between early childhood educators and parents will lead to positive outcomes. We will continue to encourage our parents to partner with us at Little Spanish Garden as we welcome our early school year of 2022. Together we can make a difference.
Thank you for choosing Little Spanish Garden!
Elizabeth Brooks
