1. Partners as Parents in Early Childhood Programs
Friday, July 2, 2010
Cathy McAuliffe, PhD

2. Major Concepts
Attachment matters
Trust matters
Parents matter

4. Resource Relationships, The Heart of Quality Care
Creating Community Among Adults in Early Care Settings
By Amy C. Baker and Lynn A. Manfredi/Petitt

5. Attachment
“Attachment is a strong emotional bond that grows between a child and an adult who is part of the child’s everyday life.”
“Secure attachments allow children to test the consequences of challenging behaviors – a critical part of moral and value development, or conscience.”

6. Attachment
“Children with poor attachment capacity are harder to teach because they feel little pleasure from teachers’ warm encouraging words.
Conversely, children with strong attachments do better in school.”

7. Attachment, Trust, and Love
“The development of higher-level thinking skills depends on love and attachment
The brain develops from the ‘bottom,’ along the lines of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

8. How We See Parents Sometimes we see parents as adversaries
What does this look like?
Sometimes we see parents as “the boss”
Sometimes we see parents as partners

10. What does the ECERS-R say about relationships with parents?
Programs rate higher when
Families are knowledge about program philosophy and approaches practiced in the program/classroom
There is a high level of sharing of child-related information between teachers/staff and parents
A variety of methods are used to encourage family involvement

11. Stop and Share At your tables, discuss the following questions:
Do the families with whom you work have knowledge about your teaching philosophy and the teaching and guidance approaches that you practice?
Is there a high level of sharing of child-related information between teachers/staff and parents?
What methods do you use to encourage family involvement?

12. Parent Conferences Read the handout Discuss the information
What is a strength you bring to parent conferences?
What is something you could do to improve the qualify of parent conferences?