The importance of working in partnership with parents is a key theme in Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage, especially when it comes to encouraging creativity.
We need to ask:
* How do parents feel about creativity?
* Do all parents feel the same?
* Are there differences based, perhaps, on age, culture, gender, class or faith?
There is no such thing as a typical parent! Values and traditions differ between individuals, and it is important that practitioners respect this and give parents opportunities to discuss and share their views.
Some early years practitioners express concern, and even annoyance, at certain parents' unwillingness to allow their child to freely explore materials such as paint, clay or water. The following example shows how one centre responded to parents' concern about messy play.
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