Parent Communication

Submitted by Kelly Livingston, Kansas AEYC Student Representative, Heartland AEYC Student Representative, & ECSA President

 
Bulletin Boards are a great way to communicate with parents! Let me address some questions you might have about bulletin boards for parent communication.

1. "How can a bulletin board be used to communicate or interact with families?" You can use it to communicate with families about what has been happening in your classroom. By using this space to help families gain information about or to support their children, you are able to strengthen the classroom community as a whole. Providing a handout or pamphlet will be handy for parents that are on the go! By letting parents grab a handout on their own terms, the ones who do pick one up are generally going to read it. 
   
2. "When do I use a bulletin board versus other types of parent communication?" Information displayed on a bulletin board should be relevant to the majority of the families in your room. If parents regularly enter your room to drop off, pick up or just spend time with their child, a bulletin board would be a beneficial way to communicate. When you have several pictures, little information or just a quick handout for families- try a bulletin board!
• How to's (How to put on coats, etc.)
• Information (Picky eaters, language & literacy, etc.)
• Interaction (Ask a question, leave a drop folder, etc.)

There are so many ways to use a bulletin board to interact and communicate with families. Knowing what the purpose of your bulletin board is will help you to create and design it well. Check out some tips for creating bulletin boards below!

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Here are some quick tips on how to create a bulletin board specifically designed to share information with parents in an informative, yet quick and fun way.

We used crinkled paper for the trunk, and
painted foam half-spheres for the coconuts.
A parent handout was added to the empty yellow space.

 1. Be creative.

• Show your creative style!
• Use 3-dimensions and color.
• Use pictures of the children in your care. (Parents love to see their children in action and it immediately draws their attention!)

2. Limit information.

• Provide information in small amounts.
• Post handouts or brochures for more in-depth or specific information and additional resources: parents are busy. (Grab & go!)
• Connect content to early learning standards, NAEYC standards, or your current curriculum.

A creative bulletin board I did,
although, not for my classroom.
I used yarn, cotton balls, paper and markers.

3. Change it often.

• Try and change it about four times a year or more.
• It helps to maintain parent (and child) interest!

4. Learn from mistakes.

• We are busy.
• We are human.
• Take note, and learn from any mistakes.

I did this bulletin board on Language Development. Unfortunately, the font was too small! (Lesson learned.) The pumpkins were painted cotton balls and I crinkled paper to create the leaves and tree trunk. 

Thanks for reading!

The Importance of Translating Early Childhood Research to Others

By Jennifer Francois

In June of 2016, Zero to Three published a National Parent Report, in conjunction with the Bezos Family Foundation, that was designed to learn more about the challenges parents face, the types of support they seek out, and if information they receive about young children’s development is helpful (Zero to Three, 2016).  Over 2,200 parents were surveyed.  Their answers were compiled to determine key themes, one of which being that while parents realize those first few years are important, they don’t understand the significance of how their interactions impact young children during the first few months of life.  For example, when asked about what age the long-term impact a parent’s care has on a child’s development, approximately 50% responded that this begins at 6 months of age, when in reality it begins at birth (Zero to Three, 2016).  This example, like many others described in Zero to Three’s report, illustrate the need for further education of not only parents, but the population about the importance of early experiences and interactions with young children.  

Over the past 30 years, research on early brain development has provided us with a wealth of knowledge on the role parent engagement plays in the process of building neural connections and fostering a child’s development.  Given that years of research exists and that much has been reported through scientific journals and popular media, it makes one wonder why this disconnect is still evident.

In the article, Science Does Not Speak for Itself: Translating Child Development Research for the Public and Policymakers, Shonkoff and Bales (2011) spoke to this by describing the disconnect that can be present between what science reports and the ways in which it is presented to the public.  These researchers identified the need to develop “core stories” about human and child development that are grounded in context and are concrete, such that it makes what happens in development visible to the public.  They also describe the need to explain why, when faced with adversity, development can be compromised (Shonkoff & Bales, 2011).  

It seems, as evidenced by this most recent report from Zero to Three, more work is needed on how to best present the public with the message that early relationships and engagement matter.  As a result, our role as early childhood educators becomes increasingly important by putting us in a position to help translate how these early experiences impact children.  We must, however, give parents this information in ways that are meaningful to them by connecting what parents are doing at home to what their children are learning.  Fortunately, early intervention has provided us with an evidence-based practice that can help facilitate those conversations.  

The Primary Coach approach (Sheldon & Rush, 2010) to early intervention has set the stage for how to effectively use reflective feedback and interest-based learning to help parents build capacity in their skills to promote learning, as well as assist in building parent self-efficacy.  The use of reflective questioning can be useful in conversations with parents about children’s development by paving the way to engage parents in a respectful way.  Coaching allows for the creation of a supportive relationship between an early childhood educator and parent during which both the coach and parent come together to discuss challenging situations and current practices within a context that is meaningful to them (Sheldon & Rush, 2010).  By engaging in reflective practices and coaching behaviors, early childhood educators have the opportunity to provide connections between early interactions, parenting practices and children’s development.