Aussie Childcare Network Forum

I would like any ideas on how you involve parents and gather input to plan in your program.

I send out a 'Parents Have A Say' form. Find out child and family interests and then use this in my programming. pretty simple. I would like to do it on a regular basis over the year but as yet have not found the time to do another one.
Cathie

i have a board that parents can freely write on it or if im talking to a parent i write down ideas suggestion from that. I put a letter out regularly
to get feedback. but the time factor is the big thing. Most of my parents are in out and you dont get to talk to everyone. But also i have been told to have my learning journals with child observations/ learning stories out for parents to take home and contribute this way as well

I had the same problem, I tried a few things but none of my parents ever read my day book let alone wrote anything in it!! I had one say "Is this an incident report?" I said no and explained what it was and she never looked at it again ha ha!

SO...this is what HAS worked for me. A private Facebook group- totally private- can only find it if you have been invited by me OR another member of the gorup but I have set very strict rules and have had parents sign terms and conditions form and also a form to say I have their premission to use their child/ren's photos in this group. After to speaking with all my parents we felt this would be the easiest way for them to contribute as most ppl these days use Facebook, and that way they can look and comment at their own leisure.

Not everyone's cup of tea but it works for me and it's a great way for them to see what we get up to.

Good luck

that a good idea with face book, i know also at work each group leader is getting their own email address so im thinking that email is going to be the way to go. I don't think that parents really get the early years frame work and how much work we actually put in.

We have weekend sheets. This doesn't have to be done on a weekend but can be about anything that the child has done with their family outside of childcare. There is space for a photo and we ask parents to briefly tell us about what happened. We then try to think of ways to include the subject matter in our programming.
For example I am both a mother of twins and an educator in another room. I took the twins to Sea World and wrote up a weekend sheet about what we saw and experienced, added photos - the educator then used this to plan (sea life show, stories and art).
However myself as I work in the younger rooms I often will ask parents about their weekends and if anything significant happened I will ask for a photo and fill in the form myself just so I get that parental input.
Not many parents will take time out of their busy shedules to fill forms in so I find minizing what they have to physically do makes it easier for them so when I ask for a photo I'm usually able to get it .

hi all parent input is a real problem for me as over the last 5 months i have sent home letters, spoke verbally on a regular basis to parents for input eg what you have done on weekends, a special photo of you childs favorite thing or just anything that you might like to see us do. NOTHING EXCEPT FROM ONE PARENT OUT OF 16 CHILDREN have gave me something to work with, am i doing something wrong, i started this week sending emails but still no responce, i know parents are busy but i am getting a little frustrated on how i can have parent input on my program, any help would be great

You could get one parent you know well to do one and then make a really big deal out of it.
Take photos of that child showing the weekend sheet to the group, stick it to the wall and do lots of great extentions of learning based on this subject, if say it was seaworld, do an interest area as well, maybe a water trolley with a big lump of ice (put a 2 litre icecream tub of water in the freezer the night before) and have plastic penguins...and then show the parents what fantastic things have come from a weekend sheet with 3 sentences and one photo on it.
Parents will want their child to have this experience as well and will often bring one back.

In the end you can't force the parents to get involved.

Talk to the child about their weekend and mention it to the parent.
Maybe you will get feedback that way.

Interestingly we had our DEC's (QIP ) visit and the two people we had (are they still called assessors?) HATED weekend sheets, one said she is a working mother who only does housework on the weekend and to come in and see all the wonderful things parents with more time have been doing makes her feel bad.
But this is just her opinion and they are not there to comment on how the curriculum is being implemented ...in the individual ways centres are doing it ,that is, (which I did not realise!)
I dont agree with this opinion as often it is a socio economic issue with parents with more money(even if both working fulltime) being able to take fantastic holidays etc and the poorer families going to the park and things like this..
I think all input is all great doesn't matter what the family did or didn't do, how much it cost or didn't cost etc , I really think weekend sheets help extend interest of the children as i find out what the individual child's family has been doing so I like them myself.

Parent input is like chasing chook in the backyard. I tried to give the observation sheet with photos of the child and let the parent write their comments on it, but most of them will say i will take this home so i can read properly. (rushing to collect the child) Unfortunately, it took a week to come back to me, always get excuses, (i left in the car, i forgot, is on my desk at home, blah blah, etc). I have good parents that straight away write their comments and very happy to see the progress and performance of their children in the room. My tip guys as far my experience about parent input: I have many incursions happening in my Preschool room last first semester. We invite the Mummy to Aerobic and dancing with the children, so much fun everyone joined in. I have mystery readers (Mum or Dad). Greek, Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Black American parents and sometimes Granny share their cultures and traditions, and i took photos and hang on the board. this also one of your cultural component. Once you hang one of their photos on the wall, most of them is interested to give their input.

Here is a good link about parent input check it out to get some ideas:
The commission's submission, which will be made public today, argues it is a better long-term investment to, in effect, pay parents to look after their children rather than plough money into formal care so they can go back to work.
Ms Calvert said although there was evidence suggesting children benefited from high-quality child care and early education by the time they turned four, there was no research that claimed children under two were better off in formal care.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life/pa ... z22xK5a0Tc

I had a few parents take portfolios home and add pics and stories of things they did with their children/holidays etc which was good but yep it was 2 out of 16 parents who contributed!

It is probably across the board that centres have the same issues which is comforting in a way - I recently gave out an "about me" sheet for parents to fill in, actually a month ago - ive given out 60 and had 8 come back., Frustrating but atleast there's the effort on our behalf that acecqa will see when the time comes.

I am actually interested in the facebook thing, I wonder if I was to do, yes, a "survey" asking parents if they have facebook and if its something they would like to see if they knew it was a closed group hmmmmm ?????

I too have some issues with parent input and I only have 5 kids each day however to be fair to the parents they are all working and their lives are busy. I have a sheet on the frommmmmmmnt of my sign in book,just handwritten for any input they want to add. I also find most will drop a few ideas just in general conversation so I add this to my paper and at the end of the day i ask them to add a signature to it.(so my scheme knows its authentic!!) I have a friend who works in a preschool and tells me its amazing the amount of parents who can find time to comment on negative issues are the ones who are complaining about having to add input about their childs learning. Oh well we are never going to please everyone so I think just do the best you can and as Lindy says,we cant force them to be involved. I have also sent home a green sheep for holidays with the children. He has a book for pictures and or stories about his time with that family and this has worked quite well as it involves the family at home.