Parent, Family and Community Involvement

     As I listened to the stories of parents, it made think of the need to continue this journey of advocacy and collaboration for children and families.  The stories also made me think of my own children and how everything I do with them today will affect their tomorrow. 

     Involvement opportunities for parents and family members in children lives, give parents the benefit of making a difference in their children and other children’s lives.  It also allows parent to model and see modeling of appropriate teaching strategies for their children.

     These type of stories show early childhood professional, the public, policy makers and government officials that early education is making a difference.  Stories such as this will show that parents are learning that they make a difference and they know that collaboration with the community and teachers is important for the success of their children’s education.

     Parent involvement may look different for each family, but parent involvement is essential for the success of children.  Though of course there are children who may soar regardless of parent involvement, however for most children I think parents need to be involved.  Involvement may be the fact of making sure that your child gets to school every day or being an active member of PTA and at school every day.  I know personally it makes a difference in my children’s life.  My daughter gets her homework done without me or my husband asking, however I need to make that my son remembers to do his most of the time. The both always have the homework turned in on time because of parent involvement.  We also check our children’s work to make sure they are grasping concepts.  I believe that parent involvement is essential for success.