Parents as Supporters of Children’s Growth And Development
Work with the teachers
Parent-teacher relationship is a two-way process, which require parent-teacher collaboration. In a successful and productive parent-teacher collaboration there is mutual trust and respect. Parents need to show teachers respect, listen to their point of view, exhibit flexibility and find compromises whenever possible. A conflicting parent-teacher relationship is counter-productive to the child's development and learning.
Be involved in your child's learning
Throughout the year, the school will organize various parental involvement activities with the objectives of establishing closer home-center collaboration and partnership. Parental involvement is proven to be one of the contributing factors to a child's school success. Your involvement means a lot to your child. Therefore, get involved by participating in as many center events as possible.
Talk to your child about school activities
-- but do not pressure your child into repeating the skills or concepts he or she has learned in class. Instead, ask about school and friends in general. Often, very young children do not have the mental capacity for recall, thus are not willing to share about specific skills or concepts learned. But as the child grows older, the ability to share about learning is higher. Our open door policy welcomes parents to visit the classrooms regularly to view the curriculum display, learning corners and children's work display. These displays, which are mostly documented, are representations of the curriculum and your child's learning in school.
Spend time reading to your child at home
Parents can help support their child's literacy development by establishing a consistent reading routine with their child at home. Since most children below the age of five's are not yet ready to read, do not insist that your child read the text but rather read to the child. Promote an interest in books and a positive disposition towards reading by providing plenty of children's literature (picture books) at home for leisure browsing and reading. Make reading a family or bed-time routine. By supporting your child's reading disposition and cultivating an interest in books instead of rushing into getting your child to read when he or she is not ready, is a positive way of supporting your child's learning.
Avoid addictive teaching and hot-housing your child
Hothousing is a term used to describe the phenomenon of parents and educators involved in 'teaching too much, too early and too soon' while addictive teaching implies being addicted to forceful, punitive teaching and drilling of skills regardless of whether the child is biologically and developmentally ready for such skills or not.
As parents, are we 'guilty' of subjecting our children to addictive teaching and hot-housing? Are those extra tuition and enrichment classes in the evenings and weekends, or the additional 'homework' and 'worksheets' necessary at this time or can these wait till a later time? My response to these questions is that if the child enjoys doing them, then there is a likely possibility that he or she will benefit from them, otherwise, you should think again and reconsider. The worst that adults can do to a 3- and 4-year old child is to 'kill' his or her interest in learning long before the child even enters formal primary school education.
