Silkysteps early years forum - planning ideas for play

This is what i put and it was signed off :-)

2.1. Explain and demonstrate strategies to support parents in understanding that both parents and children develop and change over time and have unique temperaments.

In our setting we support parents in understanding that both parents and children develop and change over time and have unique temperaments by organising parent evenings, where the parents can make an appointment with their child’s key person, the pre-school leader or the manager. We can then answer any questions they may have regarding their child’s development or even how they feel as parents and also answer any worries they may have too, whether it’s about their child’s behaviour or how they can best help their child. This will hopefully set their mind at ease.
We share with parents, their child’s learning journey, which shows and helps the parents to understand how their child has developed and changed over the time they have been with us at the setting, it also gives us a chance to explain to parents about their child’s next steps and what this means in terms of development.
We can also chat to parents about their child’s temperament, if they are worried about their behaviour for example, ensuring them that each child is an individual and depending on the situation or what was going on at the time, would determine how their child behaves. One way of helping parents to understand this is to ask them to contribute to the observations made on their child, as their child may behave completely different at home to what they do at school.
We also hand out booklets from the local children’s centre, so if parents need any help or advice on health, family matters, early education or child care, we can work with them and help them access the appropriate services they need. We can then work together with the other professionals to meet the needs of the children and their parents/carers.

2.2. Explain and demonstrate strategies to support parents in understanding the role of reciprocal responses and interaction in parenting.

We support parents in understanding the role of reciprocal responses and interaction in parenting, by working with them to share their children’s care and education. One way we do this is by holding committee meetings and AGM’s. These meetings enable us to talk about the children’s care and education, providing parents with information on what their child has been learning and what they are going to be learning about.
This can then enable the parent/carer to share with us any ideas or suggestions they may have on what they would like to see on the planning. Any information that we gain and share, helps us in the way that we work and provide for children and their families within our setting.
It also gives parents the chance to voice any concerns they may have or to let us know what they want to get out of us as a setting. E.g. their needs as a family.
We try to get parents involved in the planning by sharing our ideas and suggestions with them.
We often send out letters/notes, informing parents of what their children are going to be doing. We offer parents the chance to come into the setting and be involved in their child’s care and education, whether it’s by sharing a particular skill they may have with us, or by coming in to read the story at the end of the session.
Sharing our planning ideas often results in parents sending their child in with items relevant to what they are learning about. For example – we had an interactive table, on things that keep us safe. Children bought in builder’s hats, riding hats, swimming goggles, cricket gloves etc…
We also provide a home/school link with ‘Lester bear’. A teddy bear that the child takes home for the weekend. ‘Lester’ interacts with the family over the weekend, going out with them etc… and the parent fill in his diary with what he has been doing with them or sticks in pictures. This helps to involve parents, grandparents and even other siblings in a child’s education and learning.

2.3. Explain and demonstrate strategies to support parents in understanding that the process of parenting is one of progressive separation of child and parent.

When we have new families to the setting, a child is often upset at the thought of their parents leaving them with us, which in turn upsets the parents too.
We help parents to separate from their child by ensuring them that they will be okay and letting them know that 9 times out of 10, children are fine as soon as their parents have gone. We try to encourage parents to make their goodbyes short, because if a child is upset, long goodbyes or a parent reluctant to leave, often makes a child more upset. We suggest they peek through the door after 5 minutes, so they can reassure themselves that their child is fine, or once the parent has left their child with us, we ring the parents when we know they are home, just to reassure them that their child is fine, no longer upset and to let them know that their child is playing happily. This hopefully sets their mind at ease and helps them to separate more easily next time.
If a child continues to be upset every time they come into the setting and the parents are reluctant to leave them, then we suggest the parent stays with them until the child is happy to let their parent go. For example – we have a little at our setting and when he 1st started, he would scream and cry, lying on the floor getting himself more upset when mum went to leave, which in turn upset mum too. Mum stayed with him for the whole session for two weeks, until he was settled and happy, sitting far enough away, so as not to interfere with him playing or making friends, but close enough to reassure him that she was still there. (This reassured mum too, seeing him happy and playing) Now when he arrives he is happy for mum to leave. So in some cases, a gradual separation process works best, especially if a child has never been left with anyone else before.