2.1 Working with parents
Throughout this course, the importance of working with and not against parents has been a familiar theme.
Karen and Nicola emphasise that key to the success of what they do at their nursery in relation to promoting health, is the importance of developing positive relationships with parents. Good relationships help to set the scene to enable staff to get to know parents. In Session 6, Karen Neal, the Family Support Worker in the nursery described how she sent out questionnaires to the parents to help her learn more about home practices. If parents felt that the staff were disinterested or if they were going to be judgemental, they would be less likely to respond with truthful responses.
Developing good relationships with families sets the scene for educating parents. However, Karen and Nicola found that it was also important to educate the staff.