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MANY PEOPLE IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION (ECE) often say, "Parents are a child's first teachers." However, when parents enroll their children in various forms of ECE (child care, preschool, pre-K, family child care, Head Start), teachers, providers, and administrators often struggle with how to effectively engage families in the activities of the program. Thus begins what can become a series of miscues in communication between what families want and what educators think is best for children. The relationships can become more tension filled when the race, ethnicity, nationality, or social class of the parents and program staff is different. ECE professionals must take intentional steps to blend their knowledge with parental knowledge in order for children to thrive.
Stephen Covey (1989) has said that we should "seek first to understand" if we wish to be effective leaders and relationship builders. By that he means that we should stop and listen carefully, asking questions using nonjudgmental language to make sure the essence of the other person's point of view is clear to us. Janis Keyser, author of From Parents to Partners: Building a FamilyCentered Early Childhood Program (2007), encourages early childhood practitioners to look for the good idea behind a parent request or demand that may initially seem strange or inappropriate. Looking for the good idea is a way of building on a parent's strengths, of beginning to understand a person whose culture may be very different from your own, or of looking for the parent's good intentions. It is much easier to relate to parents in a positive, respectful way when (1) we engage in a two-way conversation (listening carefully as well as speaking) and (2) we try to recognize the potential for good ideas behind parental requests and behaviors.
In 2002 the National Parent and Teachers Association (PTA) revised the content and title of their family involvement standards. The standards became known as the FamilySchool Partnership Standards based on the clear research evidence that such partnerships are the bedrock of children's school success (PTA 2008). The PTA standards are written in language that reflects early childhood family engagement at its best. They clearly require that we advocate for the best interests of every child. The standards offer answers about how to proceed with children...