Parents and Families as Partners in Early Childhood Education

In the book Early Childhood Education Today 11th Edition, we read that “Family-centered practice is one of the cornerstone features of early childhood special education. This follows the fundamental notion that children’s development is influenced by their environment: their family, teachers, school, town, media, governmental systems, and so on.” (MORRISON, 2009) The first thing we as teachers must do is acknowledge that the children’s families are the first and most important teachers of their children and recognize the long-term effect families have on the attitudes and accomplishments of their children . For the edification of today’s youth there are potential positive responses to be obtained through working with a child’s parents as well as the child themselves. There are six distinctive areas in which we can look at to improve the education of children.

The first is in the area of Parent Knowledge and Skills. Here we have the opportunity to not only acquire more information in regards to the child, but also give information to the child’s parents on ways in which they can assist their son/daughter with their education. According to George S. Morrison, we the educators are to “Assist families with parenting and child-rearing skills, understanding child and adolescent development, and setting home conditions that support children as students at each age and grade level.” (MORRISON, 2009, p. 491) Through a partnership with the child’s parents, we the educators are assisted in understanding the families in which the children come from. This arms us with knowledge that allows us to adjust our teaching skills suitably to the children’s different learning styles as well as helps the parents to know where their child is at within...

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...e the community comes together to care for and assist children.

There are many ways in which teachers, school boards and the community can come together to assure that children as well as their parents are meet with love, caring, support and guidance.

Works Cited

Jeff Wike- Executive Director, T. B.-P. (2011). Promoting youth development through services, outreach, and collaboration. Retrieved 06 19, 2011, from The Center for Whitley County Youth: http://www.thecentercc.com/

MORRISON, G. S. (2009). FAMILY ISSUES. In G. S. MORRISON, Early Childhood Education Today 11th. Edition (p. 34). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc.

Walker, K. (2011). Project Appleseed The national campaign for Public school improvement. Retrieved 06 20, 2011, from PACE / Project Appleseed, the National Campaign for Public School Improvement: http://www.projectappleseed.org/