Glen Education Murrumbeena 

Time with Families - Fostering a positive learning partnership

Kayla Yu, Early Childhood Educator

In our service, we value the collaboration between families and the education and care service and we do believe that children are much more likely to reach their potential in life when their family and kinder work together.

Family involvement contributes to a richer and more diverse learning environment for children. Different family members bring unique skills, experiences, and perspectives that can enhance the overall educational experience. Therefore, at our kinder, we encourage ongoing parental involvement by inviting parents to come kinder doing and participating in activities. We do believe this involvement can extend beyond kindergarten and into the child's later years of schooling.

Over past the few terms, we keep inviting families to do different activities with children, such as reading books, doing cooking activities planting, talking about our body, and introducing their traditional cultures to our kinder children. For example, we've noticed that there is a child at our kinder always brings yummy pudding that his mum made for his morning tea, and his friends have been asking can we make the pudding here? So, we were thinking why not invite the parent to come doing a cooking experience with all the children. It was a fantastic hands-on cooking experience and children all spend some wonderful and quality time enjoying making pudding with the parent. When making it, children developed basic culinary skills such as mixing, pouring, stirring, and measuring, which all contribute to their fine motor development and coordination. Also, we involved children in the preparation of food and talked about healthy eating habits. It was an opportunity discussing the nutritional value of ingredients and make choices that align with a balanced diet. What’s more important is that’s an opportunity for quality bonding that shared experiences in a learning environment can strengthen the parent-child relationship.

Involving parents in our program with positive experiences can contribute to a child's positive attitude toward education. When parents participate in activities, it sends the message that learning is enjoyable and valued. The time children spent at kindergarten with parents is an investment in a child's overall well-being and development. It creates a supportive and collaborative learning environment that extends beyond the classroom, positively influencing the child's attitudes toward education and their own capabilities.