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Parental
Involvement in Family Childcare: Does It Really Matter?
by
Stephen D. Green, Ph.D.
Caregivers,
teachers, peers, extended family, media, heredity,
and the environment all contribute to a child's development;
however, parents (if present) are the most powerful
influence in the lives of their children. Parental
involvement not only shapes development during the
initial years of life, but also during the adolescent
and adult years.
Given
this important role, to what extent should parents
be involved in their children's development? According
to the National PTA, "Parental involvement is
the participation of parents in every facet of the
education and development of children from birth to
adulthood, recognizing that parents are the primary
influence in their children's lives." If this
statement is correct, then parents have a tremendous
responsibility to be involved with their children
both inside and outside the home, including their
children's non-parental childcare arrangements.
Decades
of research have demonstrated that the more involved
parents are in their children's development, the
greater chance children have to succeed, particularly
in their academic performance. Consistently, researchers
have discovered that greater parental involvement
in a child's education is associated with:
-
higher
student grades and test scores,
-
better
attendance,
-
higher
rates of homework completion,
-
more
positive student attitudes and behavior,
-
higher
graduation rates, and
-
greater
enrollment rates in post-secondary education.
The
same researchers also noted that when parents are
involved, children achieve more regardless of their
socioeconomic level, ethnic/racial background, or
the parents' educational level (Henderson &
Berla, 1994).
As
recent research on early brain development has shown,
positive parental involvement needs to begin long
before children enter into formal schooling arrangements.
The early years of a child's life are critically
important for healthy brain development, attachment
formation, and language acquisition. Prime opportunities
for learning exist during the first few years of
life that may not be recovered at a later stage.
At the same time, today's children are spending
more and more time in non-parental childcare arrangements.
As a childcare provider, you may spend more waking
hours with a child than his or her parents. Therefore,
it is important for childcare providers and parents
to work together as a team to promote as much parental
involvement as possible.Parental involvement in
childcare not only benefits children, but also parents
and childcare providers. In interviews with parents
and childcare providers, Preston Britner discovered
that parental involvement was one of the key factors
in how satisfied parents were with their children's
care arrangements. The greater their involvement,
the more satisfied they were with their children's
care. Other surveys indicate that childcare providers
are overwhelmingly in favor of parental involvement
from both mothers and fathers. What is less clear
for some, however, is what childcare providers can
do to encourage greater parental involvement in
the childcare setting and at home. Following are
some suggestions for improving the level of parental
involvement in your family day home.
Conduct
a parental involvement assessment:
-
In
what ways do the parents involve themselves?
-
Are
there areas in which they can become more involved?
-
What
are some of the barriers preventing parents from
being involved?
-
What
efforts have been effective or ineffective in
the past?
-
Are
parents satisfied or dissatisfied with their level
of involvement?
-
In
what capacity would they like to become more involved?
-
What
attitudes toward parental involvement do the staff
have?
Create
an environment that welcomes and encourages parental
involvement. Do parents feel welcome to visit their
children while in your care? Are there special opportunities
for them to come to your home when their children
are present? Do mothers as well as fathers feel
comfortable being involved? In other words, is your
family day home family friendly? Some parents may
be reluctant to get involved unless you make special
efforts to let them know that their involvement
is welcomed and extremely important.
Expect
parents to be involved. Dr. James Levine and his
colleagues at the Families and Work Institute conducted
a nationwide study of early childhood programs that
were successful at involving fathers. Staff in nearly
all of the programs expected that parents would
be involved. A director at one of the centers commented
that when staff have no expectations for involvement,
that is exactly what they will get. Therefore, it
is important to let parents know from the day their
children enroll that their involvement is expected
and valued.
Communicate
regularly with parents. Communication is a two-way
street. Parents need to be informed about what is
going on with regard to their children's care. Likewise,
childcare providers need to have an idea of what
is going on in the home environment of the children
in their care. The only way this will happen is
if both parent and provider make a regular effort
to keep each other informed. This is true for positive
developments (e.g., a child learning the alphabet;
a child learning to walk) as well as negative developments
(e.g., a child hitting or biting another child;
a child not respecting a teacher). Communication
can take place in a variety of ways (i.e., by phone,
in writing, face-to-face, etc.) as long as it occurs.
Hold
special events specifically designed to involve
parents. Space limitations in your home may impact
what type of special activities you can do to involve
parents. For example, you may not have adequate
space to invite every parent to attend at the same
time. Possible activities include:
-
one-on-one
parent-provider meetings;
-
career
days, when a parent comes to talk about his or
her job with the children;
-
educational
events, such as a parent coming to read a book
to the children;
-
field
trips, such as a trip to the children's museum;
-
recreational
activities led by parents at a local park; and
-
opportunities
to eat meals together.
There
are many options available to you as a childcare
provider, so be creative and have fun as you seek
to involve parents in positive ways.
References:
Henderson,
A.T. & Berla, N. 1994. A New Generation of Evidence:
The Family is Critical to Student Achievement. Washington,
DC: National Committee for Citizens in Education.
Levine,
J.A., Murphy, D.T., & Wilson, S. (1998). Getting
Men Involved: Strategies for Early Childhood Programs.
New York: Families & Work Institute.
Britner,
P. (1999). What Leads to Satisfaction for Child
Care Providers and Parents. [http://www.nncc.org/research/satisfaction.html].
Dr.
Stephen Green is an Assistant Professor and Child
Development Specialist with Texas Cooperative Extension.
His areas of speciality include child development,
child care, and father-child relationships.
"Reprinted
with permission from the National Network for Child
Care - NNCC - Green, S. (Ed.) ( 2002). Family
Child Care Connections, Volume 11, Issue 2.
College Station, TX: National Network for Child
Care at Texas A&M University."
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