Nursery World - Working partnerships

To do the best for the children in our care, it is crucial to
develop strong partnerships with their parents or carers.

Parents are a child's first and most enduring educators: our children eventually move on from our settings, but parents are a constant in their lives. Even those children who come to a setting for the whole working week still spend far more time at home than they do in our care.

It is tricky to create perfect partnerships with parents. Sometimes, parent partnerships feel a bit like the odd couples on Strictly Come Dancing. One person knows what he or she is doing; the other seems not to have much clue. Take care, though, if you are tempted to sit in judgment of your parent partners. Even if your partner is the worst dancer in the world, what he or she needs is support and advice, rather than criticism and disapproval. In a dance partnership, either both of you work together to try and win, or one drags the other down.

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