Importance Of Family Involvement 

Importance Of Family Involvement

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Importance Of Family Involvement in Children’s School Success

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this is what on the Fairness “Arndt highlights the importance of family involvement in children’s school success (Epstein, Coates, Saunas, Saunders, & Simon, 1997; Ramey & Ramey, 1999; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). Children may be members of homeless families; families headed by a single parent or by gay or lesbian parents; or blended families, adoptive families, foster families, or intergenerational families.

Full TextTranslate0:00 /0:00Much thought must go into preparing children for the transition from home or a child care environment to school. Transition experiences need to consider the whole child, including children’s cognitive, socio-emotional, and physical readiness for learning. It is equally vital to explore ways to involve families, who are children’s first and most important teachers.

Research highlights the importance of family involvement in children’s school success (Epstein, Coates, Saunas, Saunders, & Simon, 1997; Ramey & Ramey, 1999; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). Most people would agree that families have the greatest knowledge of their children’s strengths and challenges. When teachers are able to converse with families, they can collect detailed information about their incoming students so that they are better able to meet the children’s needs. A number of theories can influence the manner in which we work with families.

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For example, early childhood theorist Uriel Bronfenbrenner (1979) believed that children should be viewed within the complex systems of their changing environments. Children’s development, as well as family development, is shaped by the extended family, religious community, school, friends, organizations, government, and culture. The interaction of these various systems influences family identity.

Thus, focusing on how to involve families in the transition to school and school readiness is crucial. And determining the best ways to involve families in the educational process from the beginning is vital. Because of the complexity of families, a comprehensive approach is needed. Who Are the Families? Communicating regularly with families helps teachers recognize the variety of backgrounds and experiences that shape families’ perceptions of their children’s development.

As we focus on families, we must remember to listen and appreciate them as they are, not how we think they are or should be. Our intent should be to understand differences in people and improve communication in order to be heard. “To serve children well, we must work with their families.

To be effective in this work, we must understand families who are diverse in ways such as culture, sexual orientation, economic status, work, religious belief s, and composition” (Christian, 2007, p. 4). Family systems theory focuses on family behavior and includes interconnected members and their influences on one another (Christian, 2007). Family systems theory can help us to recognize and understand different parenting styles and family boundaries.

It enables us to avoid stereotypes, recognize the different ways that families handle situations, and balance children’s activities and curriculum. Family systems theory incorporates individual and group identity, and respects a family’s need for control (Christian, 2007). To build better relationships, both preservice and Inservice educators need to understand the values espoused by each child’s family.

A variety of factors determine the way we approach and interact with families. First, one must consider the culture from which families come. People are often shaped by the times in which they live. Thus, families with adults in their 20s will most likely differ from those with adults in their 30s or 40s. Generational differences influence thinking about family life, balance of work and family, responsibilities, gender roles, lifestyle, culture, and outlook for the future (Rutherford, 2005).

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Rutherford provides some guidance about several recent generations that may prove useful in helping teachers understand families. Knowing the values and characteristics of the adults parenting the children can provide insight on how to engage them in their children’s early school experience. According to Rutherford, the younger end of the “Baby Boomers,” who are in their 40s, may be first-time parents or may be acting as parents to their grandchildren. “Boomers” are often thought of as “workaholics,” seeking to move up the career ladder.

They value change, hard work, and success, and they often overcommit. Being process-oriented rather than product-oriented, “Boomers” may need reminders to keep them focused on desired outcomes. The Gen-Xers, born between 1965-1982, broadly speaking, value relationships over organizations. For them, the personal touch and immediate feedback are very important. This characteristic complements their spirit of informality, creativity, and desire for a balance of personal and professional lives. “Millennials,” or parents who were born beginning in the 1980s, appreciate time spent with family (Howe & Strauss, 2000).

They value involvement, have a positive outlook, and embrace technology. E-mail is their preferred way to communicate. Families from all ethnic and racial groups benefit from early childhood educators who have an understanding of culturally appropriate practice.

Cultural competence involves the ability to think, feel, and act in ways that acknowledge, respect, and build on ethnic, sociocultural, and linguistic diversity (Lynch & Hanson, 1998). Early childhood educators should take the time to thoroughly understand the hidden curriculum of each culture in order to connect with families.

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As educators, we must understand how culture shapes children’s development by recognizing cultural identities and differences in families that are shaped by everything from broad sociocultural influences to unique family influences (Hyun, 2007). Honing cross-cultural communication skills may support teachers’ understanding of what each family wants for its children (Gonzalez-Mena, 2005). These communication skills include language, personal space, smiling, eye contact, touch, silence, and time concepts (Gonzalez-Mena, 2005).

Children may be members of homeless families; families headed by a single parent or by gay or lesbian parents; or blended families, adoptive families, foster families, or intergenerational families. Each family unit has issues unique to it. In order to engage families in participation, educators must willingly discern the families’ strengths and needs, then communicate in ways that families are able to embrace.

For example, findings from one survey done by a preschool director found that lesbian/gay parents “want the same as other parents-that [their] child be nurtured and stimulated to learn” (clay, 2007, p. 24). These parents deemed important a school environment that supported emotional safety and diversity (e.g., regarding family structure, race and ethnicity, adopted children, and transracial families). Teachers who had experience working with gay- and lesbian headed households thus were important to this family group (clay, 2007).

Important issues to some other families included adoption issues and ways of relating to other families. Socioeconomic status is sometimes an overlooked issue when understanding families. Having an awareness of how socioeconomic status affects families can help educators be more responsive. Educators with such awareness will be better able to create and develop appropriate ways to engage these families. As educators teach growing numbers of children who live in poverty, they are challenged to think beyond traditional lines of race and ethnicity (Cottrell, Ledford, & Stapleton, 2007).

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It is important to focus on the strengths of children and families, not the deficits, and to develop strategies around such strengths (Cottrell et al., 2007). Professionals must examine and determine the influences of their own backgrounds, cultures, attitudes, and experiences before they can understand the needs, experiences, and cultures of individual families. Educators must reflect on how cultural diversity or working with children who have special needs affects the teacher’s roles and relationships.

Early childhood educators need to ponder these questions thoughtfully to consider and overcome biases in all of these relationships. It is important for families and professionals to form equitable and collaborative partnerships that support and involve families in meaningful ways. Why should educators invest the time and effort necessary to understand families? Alma Floor Ada (2003) shares the following rationale for why educators and families should work together: “Students live in two worlds: home and school.

If these two worlds do not recognize, understand, and respect each other, students are put in a difficult predicament and very little learning can take place” (p. 11). What Early Childhood Educators Do Best Early childhood educators have strengths from which to draw when it comes to helping children enter school. Teachers can make connections with children by exploring their interests and engaging them in the classroom, using that information.

Relationships based on trust and attachment help build warmth, understanding, and reflective listening. Appropriate nonverbal language, such as teachers communicating at eye level, is also important. Early childhood teachers should foster and encourage children’s initiative, and work to extend children’s cognitive, social-emotional, and language skills. Early childhood teachers generally handle with ease issues of social adjustment-the concern most parents have about a transition (Dockett & Perry, 2003). We also must recognize that “one size” does not “fit all” and so we must work to promote a variety of high-quality programs, such as Head Start, cooperative preschools, family child care, employer supported child care, and center-based programs to meet the needs of all families.

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Importance Of Family Involvement in Children’s School Success

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