Parent Participation
Webster Square Day Care Center, Inc. strives to partner with parents to provide a consistent and integrated
environment to help you child grow and thrive.
environment to help you child grow and thrive.
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We encourage all parents to be involved with their child's program by: informally sharing information about the child on a daily basis and formally documenting growth on the child's progress report, inviting families to participate in regularly scheduled events, inviting families to share aspects of their culture with the classroom staff and other parents to better understand and celebrate differences, updating parents on the curriculum through weekly newsletters and the sharing of activities and books that can be used at home with the child.
WSDCC utilizes many strategies in addressing linguistic and cultural characteristic such as contracting with a bilingual speech/language pathologist, translating all information distributed to parents/educators in their native language and offering translation services at workshops/trainings etc. Our program shares space with the African and Vietnamese communities and we have participated in joint celebrations and community events. WSDCC maintains up-to-date information about services that are available in the community that includes hours of operation, fees, location, eligibility, language capacity, etc. A key strategy used by WSDCC is relationship building between the parents and program staff. Staff retention is imperative, as it promotes trust and this trust is enhanced by respecting individual and cultural differences. Once a trusting relationship has been formed, all sharing of information including parent/child development is more readily accepted. WSDCC connects parents with similar life experiences at family events and trainings. WSDCC will reach out to families to engage them in their child’s development by offering information (typical/atypical child development, challenges of parenting and preparation of healthy meals etc.), through books, videos, workshops, trainings and conferences. WSDCC will encourage stimulating interaction with their child by providing activities on-site and by distributing information about family events. WSDCC distributes semi-annual parent surveys/questionnaires which are anonymous. Parents are given a written report of the responses and all corrective actions that are to be incorporated into the program. All families are encouraged to join the Board of Director’s to have a voice in the operation of their child’s program. Parents are required to meet semi-annually with their child’s educators for assessment conferences, are invited to join our Board of Directors and are strongly encouraged to participate in all workshops and parent groups. Meals, transportation, and child care services are provided when appropriate. A few of the events sponsored by WSDCC are monthly parent breakfasts, a Thanksgiving feast, a cookie decorating party and an end of the year cookout to promote social connections among the parents. WSDCC provides the food and materials and the entire family is encouraged to attend. Creative strategies (transportation, raffles, etc.) for participation by all families at every event are utilized. |
