Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/families-as-partners-in-centers-for-excellence/5015014/
At Penfield Children's Center (Milwaukee) it is "Popcorn & Movies" night for the neighborhood. The main room is crowded with families and buzzing with conversation. Current families are enjoying the informal social time while formerly enrolled families are thrilled to see familiar faces. New families, when they eventually enroll their children, will return with warm feelings, making high levels of involvement in parent-oriented activities much more likely.Early care and education programs have long recognized the importance of participation by parents and other family members as a strategy for enhancing child development. However, family participation is not easily achieved, especially when parents have full-time jobs or face challenges of low income, single parenthood, or a history of problems with educational or service agencies. Early childhood providers are often frustrated when attempting to increase family involvement and many simply give up.
Recommendations for meeting the challenges of family participation have been offered by many early childhood advocates and administrators (Adams, 2001; Kagan & Cohen, 1996; Kasting, 1994). Powell (1998) has suggested that centers "reweave parents into the fabric of early childhood programs" by targeting families directly rather than focusing on children alone. Others have offered specific suggestions for enhancing problem-solving and communication with parents ...