Parent, Family, & Community Engagement

Why involvement opportunities for parents and families benefit young children, families, and the early childhood field?

Involvement opportunities provide a multitude of benefits for young children, families, and the early childhood field.  For parents and families it giving them the opportunity to become involved and engaged in their child's education allows them to learn how to advocate for their child.  It helps to prepare them for when their child transitions into public schools.  For young children, they get to see their parents actively involved in their school, share experiences with their parents and families, and tells them that they are important, building their self esteem.  For the early childhood field it is a way for the field to demonstrate and educate parents and families on the importance of early childhood experiences, growth, development, and learning.

My opinion regarding why or why not parent / family involvement is an essential element for all strands of service in the early childhood field.

In my own personal opinion family involvement / engagement is an essential component of all strands of service in the early childhood field.  Families and their young children are what make up the early childhood field.  It is essential that they partner with early childhood professionals in order to build high-quality care and education services for their children.  When families are a part of the process they become involved in their child's education, research shows that children have a higher school success rate when their parents are involved in their education.

As a past Head Start parent I have to say that Head Start had a major impact on my life and my children's lives.  Both of my girls, and later my son, went to Head Start and from participating in the parent committees and volunteering in the Center and Classrooms it made me more aware of how important early childhood experiences and learning is for young children.  I went back to school after my son was born and had the full support of all of the Head Start staff.  When my son demonstrated developmental delays I know it is because of the experiences that I had with Head Start that I knew exactly what to do and how to proceed to get him the early intervention that he needed.  I am thrilled to now be working for my local Head Start / Early Head Start program and am sure that the program will remain very dear to my heart.  I now have my Bachelors in Child Development and will soon complete the required courses for my Master's Degree.  I am sure that without the experiences in Head Start that I would not be where I am today and considering going for a PhD. in Early Childhood Education. 

My children also continue to excel in school and to this day have a love of learning.  They each remember their Head Start experiences and teachers and often look through their portfolios. 

Head Start empowers families, promotes self-reliance, and educates young children and families.  It's comprehensive system is one that the early childhood field can learn from.  Parents and families learn and experience the importance of becoming involved in one's own community as well as their child's education.

Quality Programs For All Children

I believe the current public opinion in the United States regarding the value and importance of providing quality services, including early care and education, is increasing.  Developments in brain research have increased awareness of the importance of the early years regarding young children's growth and development. Researchers agree it is the earliest years that are the most crucial for healthy growth and development for all children. Early intervention programs, Head Start / Early Head Start, and Special Education programs help provide high-quality, safe, and healthy experiences to young children and their families.  The history of these types of programs demonstrates the increased awareness and focus on quality childcare and education.  The long term benefits have social, economical, and political impacts on our society. 

My hope is that continued research, community based programs, and family involvement continues to raise awareness and increase the focus on the importance of quality early care and education for all children.  It is my hope that funding will continue to increase and that as a nation we will be able to create more and more programs to ensure that all children have access to high-quality care and education programs.  I hope to be a part of this continued movement and hope that I will be a part of implementing new programs, bringing awareness to my local area, and will have a positive influence on families and young children. 

I believe that when we can provide services to all children we will see long term benefits not only for our children but for our Nation as well.  Studies have shown that investing in the care and education of our young children is beneficial to our economy.   The economic benefits include lowering the cost of remedial, special education, and grade repetition, higher income for graduates, better job preparation, and fewer welfare payments to name just a few (MIT Workplace Center, 2005).  The social impact includes higher rate of graduation, lower crime rates, and individuals become better citizens (MIT Workplace Center, 2005). 

In the words of Maria Montessori:

"Free the child's potential and you will transform the world!"

References

MIT Workplace Center. 2005. Early childhood education for all:  A wise investment.  Retrieved from

http://web.mit.edu/workplacecenter/docs/Full%20Report.pdf



What resonates with me about early childhood public policy and advocacy?

When asked why I chose this specialization many things come to mind.  The first is the children.

The children and their families are the most important aspect of why I chose to go into Advocacy.  I want to be a voice for young children and their families. 

Advocates are essential in the early childhood field.  Advocates educate their local communities, society, and legislators on the benefits and importance of early learning and high-quality care for our most precious asset.....our children.  Advocates help empower young children and their families by giving them a voice. 



By specializing in Public Policy and Advocacy I hope I learn more about how I can make a difference in my area and call to action our local communities to improve the quality of care and education for our young children and their families.

"In every conceivable manner, the family is the link to our past and the bridge to our future!" 

~ Alex Haley  



Communicating and Collaborating in the Early Childhood Field

In closing our final core course in this Master's Program in Early Childhood Studies I would like to say, I hope we meet again in the future and best of luck to everyone as we enter our Specializations!  It has been a privilege and a pleasure to work and learn with each of you.  Your insights and feedback have been invaluable. 

I have enjoyed reading your blogs and sharing this experience with each of you!  I wish you all the best!

Adjourning

Most of the groups I have been a part of have closure or adjournment.  The business groups I have been a part of have always closed with a celebration of our successes and a review of our accomplishments.  It feels good to celebrate what you have accomplished with a group of your colleagues.  All groups must experience some type of closure, even those groups that have not been a positive experience will experience some type of closure. 

For me it is harder to say good-bye and see a successful high-performing group say good-bye and come to an end.  Most of the groups that were not positive experiences were a relief to see come to an end.  Some of the types of closure I have experienced include celebrating our accomplishments with a luncheon.  It was very nice to feel appreciated and to celebrate as a group the accomplishments we made together.  When I was a part of the Employee Task Force it was nice to be able to close the group on such a positive note, I met several other employees that I had not previously known and to this day enjoy getting together with them. 

When I imagine the group of colleagues I am working with in my Master's Degree Program I imagine it will be bittersweet.  It will be a great accomplishment for all of us but many of us have been together in undergraduate courses as well as throughout the Master's Degree program.  I hope that we can all stay connected through Alumni groups. 

Adjourning is an essential stage in teamwork and groups because it allows us to say good-bye, celebrate together, and to let others know what an impact they have had on our lives.  Each of my colleagues in the Master's Program has enriched my learning and I hope that we will also have the opportunity to celebrate our accomplishment together.

Recent Conflict

In my office we recently hired a new home visitor.  There are now three of us in the county that provide home base services to Early Head Start.  In the process of trying to train the new person I noticed that the other girl (Christina) in the office was beginning to sound very bossy.  I also noticed that the new girl (Roberta) was beginning to take offense.  Because the new person found my co-worker to be bossy and pushy (her words) there was a dispute over lesson planning and training.  The new girl refused to be told what to do by Christina and Christina was becoming increasingly frustrated with Roberta.  We were not getting a lot of training done and soon Roberta would be taking over her own caseload.  Therefore, instead of taking my usual stance of avoiding the conflict or trying to 'fix' the conflict I decided to practice a couple of strategies from the Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and the Third Side material that we have been studying. 

I was actually very proud that I was able to utilize some of the strategies and skills that I have been studying recently.  When the new girl came to me and said that she felt my co-worker was being "rude, pushy, and bossy" and that she did not appreciate it I took a moment to consider how she might be feeling.  I imagined it must be confusing to have two people trying to train you as well as very scary to start an entire new position.  She has the added stress of having all of the Spanish speaking families on her case load and must also practice her Spanish speaking skills in order to communicate well with her families.   I then explained that this is not the normal personality for my coworker and suggested that maybe she was just trying to make sure that Roberta had all the information.  I also suggested that we all sit down and talk about it.  I told the Roberta that she should express honestly how she is feeling and let my coworker now how she is being perceived.  When I asked Christina to come down and speak with us she said she knew Roberta was upset but that she didn't know what she did to make her that way. 

When we all sat down to talk I suggested that we just talk about what had actually occurred and that we try explaining our actions.  After talking and redirecting the conversation a couple of times and pointing out the reasons behind a few of the actions made by myself and my coworker Roberta understood that we were not being bossy but rather we were just trying to ensure that she had all the information that she would need.  Christina also stated that she did not realize that she was sounding so demanding and bossy and stated she would make a bigger effort to make requests rather than demands.

Overall, I thought it was a very productive meeting.  Prior to studying Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and the Third Side I would have dreaded the conflict and bad feelings between everyone.  The challenge to any conflict is being able to understand and relate to different perspectives (www.thirdside.org).  I also agree with NVC that "having the intention to connect with ourselves and others is one of the most important goals of practicing and living nonviolent communication" (www.cnvc.org). 

I believe in this instance I took on the role of "The Bridge Builder" and allowed my coworkers to build a relationship across the lines of conflict (www.thirdside.org).  If we had not been able to 'mend fences' and build a bridge together then I believe the hard feelings would have continued and escalated.

In looking back at past conflicts between coworkers I noticed that I rarely spoke up and would usually just try to "keep the peace".  I have learned that you can "fix" everything for everyone and that people must take ownership of their own actions and feelings. 

Who am I as a communicator?

This week we took several surveys which gave some insights into what type of communicator we are and how well we communicate with others.  We also asked two other people to take the surveys for us.  What I found between my own results and their results did surprise me.  Both people who took the surveys, a co-worker and my fiance, scored me higher than I scored myself.  I was really surprised that both of them assumed that I was and even enjoy speaking in front of others.  Personally, this is something I really struggle with because I do not like speaking before a group.  My co-worker was surprised to hear that I actually don't like it and that I get as nervous as I do when I have to speak.  So I guess I apparently keep it well hidden.  

The first insight I gained is that others definitely perceive us differently than we may think.  Our tone of voice, body language, and the language we use also affects others perceptions of us.  While we may think we are not communicating well, others may feel that the communication was successful.  In the same sense, sometimes we think we communicated our message clearly when in reality others may not have received the message or understood what we were trying to communicate.

The second insight I gained is that I am definitely more critical of myself than others.  I am sure this is the case with most people, I just didn't realize how harshly I was judging myself until I took the surveys. 

I enjoyed this type of self-reflection and the opportunity to see where I need to improve my communications skills.