Parent, Family, and Community Engagement

The professional and personal significance you drew from these stories:
The one story that stood out to me was Tess Dunlap's.  She explained how unaware she was about the Head Start program and all that it did for the children.  Like many of the parent's who have children enrolled, she saw it as nothing more then a daycare.  Tess soon realized how much more it was.  The program helped her overcome family issues regarding alcohol and even gave her the courage to get her bachelor's degree.  This story helped prove that the Head Start programs are much more than a preschool.  They provide the children and the families opportunities that they might not get if they tried on their own.


Your opinion regarding why or why not parent/family involvement is an essential system element for all strands of service in the early childhood field:
Parent/family involvment is extremely important when it comes to sevicing the early childhood field.  Having volunteered in Head Starts, it is obvious which families take the time to help their children succeed and which ones do not.  Having the families and parent's involved shows the children that they care about what they are learning and what they are doing in school.  Parent's are their children's first teachers.  If they do not make the effort to help promote what the teacher's do within the classroom, the children will not be able to get the most out of their experience at the Head Start setting.

Quality Programs for All Children

Today’s society takes early care and education very lightly.  It seems in my opinion that it is treated as more of a day care, especially preschool programs, rather than something that will help their children further their education.  Hopefully within the next 5 years, our society will realize programs such as Head Starts are there to help children and not babysit them.  Having volunteered in my local Head Start, I have seen how parents mistreat the program and use it to their benefit rather than their children’s.  They would drop the child off and run out of the door not taking any interest in their art work or what the teacher has to say.

I hope the opinion on early childhood education changes drastically.  People need to be aware of how important the programs are for the young children and how much they benefit from it.  By advocating to parents and the community, as professionals we should aim to show the importance of the programs and the other systems they coincide with.  Hopefully the change will show the public that children benefit long run from the services of early childhood education.  It will demonstrate that they are better prepared for school and are more successful in their lives. I imagine that the programs will strengthen their education with the young children.  They will implement more programs and a committee for the parent’s to attend to show them how important the programs truly are.

Early Childcare Policy and Advocacy

Part 1: Why did you choose this specialization? Share what resonates with you about this specialization. Consider the relationship between your passion and aspirations related to public policy and advocacy and what you hope to accomplish with regard to promoting the well-being of children, families, and the early childhood field.

The specialization that I chose which sparked my interest is handling challenging behaviors.  Many parents feel unsure of how to deal with their children who have behavioral issues and what their rights are in terms of education.  This issue has caught my attention and has made me want to further investigate information for the parent’s such as what their rights are and how to get help for them in their home setting with the difficult child.  I hope to accomplish with regard to promoting the well-being of children, families, and the early childhood field to educate everyone on how to properly handle the misbehaving children.  I would like to inform them about what their rights are as parents and the policy of the school’s their children are attending.  This will allow them to fully understand what they can do to help their children and how they can prevent any uncertainty that they may have.

Part 2: Why are advocates essential in the early childhood field? Explain why you believe becoming a skilled and confident advocate is crucial for early childhood professionals and for the field.

Becoming a skilled and confident advocate is crucial for early childhood professionals and for the field because many of the families that we deal with and interact with are not familiar with their rights as parents.  They are unfamiliar with the different policies and how to advocate for their children.  Many of the families have language barriers and are unable to advocate for their children themselves.  By being skilled and confident in advocating I will be able to assist the families accomplish and fulfill their goals for their children in terms of getting assistance they may need.

Part 3: What do you hope to learn about public policy and advocacy? Articulate at least three goals related to this specialization at this point in your coursework.

One goal that I have is to learn the policies of my local school district.  By doing this I will be more efficient in helping the families I deal with on a daily basis.

Another goal that I have is to strengthen my database in terms of resources that are available for the parent’s and families.  This will help me be a more efficient advocate for the families and what rights they have.

The final goal that I hope to learn about public policy and advocacy is to find resources for the families dealing with specialization about handling difficult children.  By having the information available, I will be able to assist the parents and families in a quicker approach to help get the situation taken care of and addressed.