Yale University
Child Study Center
230 South Frontage Road
New Haven, CT
06520 USA

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Parental Involvement

One of the most important aspects of working with young children, as parents and educators, involves creating connections between the people who care for young children. We need to develop strong communication with each other and find ways to bridge school and family on behalf of our children. For early childhood professionals, this means fostering open communication with families and finding ways to use our classroom curriculum to bridge children's experiences of home and school. (see my document for ideas here.

As parents, when we leave our child to go to work, we need to leave them in a place that meets their needs. One that provides them with a safe, loving place to grow physically, socially, emotionally, and cognitively. We need to be able to trust our child's caregiver and develop a strong relationship with them. We cannot allow ourselves to be threatened when our child builds a trusting and loving relationship with another caring adult. We need to carry with us the knowledge that our child loves us above all others and benefits from the loving care of many people.

Our child looks to us to know whether the relationship is a safe one. By creating a trusting, meaningful relationship with our child's caregiver, we provide an important model for our child. We give them permission to build positive relationships outside our family, with teachers and with peers. When we leave our child in the care of others, our child needs us to build relationships of trust and common understanding. No matter what our relationship has been to schools and teachers in our past, we must work to develop trusting relationships on our child's behalf. We must be advocates for our children's needs. By developing strong relationships with their teachers, we help to make sure that our child's needs are met. By developing open trusting communication with teachers and supporting them in their work, and by becoming part of the community of our child's school, we support our child's relationships and their learning.

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Last modified: May 15, 2006 . (VV)
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