Exchange information with family members about the child’s physical and emotional care needs Ensure information sharing about participation in program child’s occurs frequently in accordance with the organisation’s guidelines Sharing the centre with families is much more than opening the doors and inviting families to spend some time in the centre. This is certainly a good start but it goes much further than this. We need to include families as much as is possible into the life of the service. That means acknowledging the special part that they play and honouring their right to be involved in meaningful ways. Think about how you would go about sharing your program with families. You could do the following: Develop a philosophy for the service with input from families. The policies of the service might also be developed in conjunction with families and be updated regularly with input from families. Ensure that all staff acknowledge that just as children are unique, so too are their families. Decisions made by families should be respected. Differences should be expected and discussed openly. Be open to families’ ideas and parenting practices. Support wherever possible and attempt to understand these decisions. For example, families will have different ideas on the best way to settle their child in to your service for the day. This might differ to your own ideas. Work with families on an individual basis. Differences of opinion are inevitable. When this occurs, ensure that staff will be committed to finding a resolution. Look for opportunities to support families in their role of primary caregiver for their child. Consider the nature of the physical environment. There should be places for parents to sit with their child, or to talk with another adult. The environment
Exchange information with family members about the child’s physical and emotional care needs Ensure information sharing about child’s participation in program occurs frequently in accordance with the organisation’s guidelines Sharing the centre with families is much more than opening the doors and inviting families to spend some time in the centre. This is certainly a good start but it goes much further than this. We need to include families as much as is possible into the life of the service. That means acknowledging the special part that they play and honouring their right to be involved in meaningful ways. Think about how you would go about sharing your program with families. You could do the following: Develop a philosophy for the service with input from families. The policies of the service might also be developed in conjunction with families and be updated regularly with input from families. Ensure that all staff acknowledge that just as children are unique, so too are their families. Decisions made by families should be respected. Differences should be expected and discussed openly. Be open to families’ ideas and parenting practices. Support wherever possible and attempt to understand these decisions. For example, families will have different ideas on the best way to settle their child in to your service for the day. This might differ to your own ideas. Work with families on an individual basis. Differences of opinion are inevitable. When this occurs, ensure that staff will be committed to finding a resolution. Look for opportunities to support families in their role of primary caregiver for their child. Consider the nature of the physical environment. There should be places for parents to sit with their child, or to talk with another adult. The environment
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