Parent, Family, and Community Engagement

This week’s media is an eye opener to hear the way parents so much appreciate what the Head Starts is doing to help them and their children. I see this as a feed back to the educators by expressing themselves and show how they appreciate what they are doing in order to make their voices heard and not only that it encourages the educators to be more effective in working with the children and their families. It’s so impressive.

Children get more attention from their parents when they are being involved in their education. They get to know what their children’s program look like and how they can continue to help their children when they are at home which make them get more attention from their parents. I like the way one of the parents put it, that she first thought that what the children were doing was just to play but she later realized that they were actually learning and she was encouraged to pick the idea up. I was very impressed listening to the parents how they shared that they were not only helping their children but it has helped them to go further in their education which I believe empowers. Head Start has helped them to be confident in themselves. It helped them to see themselves as team members with the educators.

Parents involvement has really add value to what educators are doing because some of them actually thought people working with the children especially with the little ones are baby sitters. They now appreciate what the educators are doing better because of their involvement.

I see parents/family involvement as an essential system element for all strands of service in the early childhood field because they don’t only speak for themselves and their children but also the community as a whole. It also helps the parents improving themselves by going further in their education and also getting involved in making decisions with the governing board of the program and with the work group that administers it.

Reference:

http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/hs/about/stories/pfs.