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Good communication is the key to a positive child care experience for you, your child and your child care provider. Here are some strategies:
Even when you are in a hurry to get to work or return home after a long day, the time you spend touching bases with your child care provider will help your provider do a better job.
Talk to your provider. The more your provider knows about what is happening in a child’s family, the better he or she will be at providing care and guidance to fit your child’s needs.
Listen to your provider. What did your child do that day? What’s happening with other children in his or her care? Your child care provider is someone you need to know.
Show appreciation for what he or she does. Caring for children all day is hard work. Children provide some great rewards, but as a parent you need to remember that you can’t take your provider’s work for granted. Notice his or her successes. Remember to say thanks. Take the time to express your appreciation.
Respect the confidentiality of your relationship. If you do communicate regularly with your child care provider, most likely you will exchange confidential information about yourself, your child, and your family. Your provider will probably do the same. It’s important that both you and your provider respect the confidentiality of this information.
Share daily pleasures. Your child care provider may spend more waking hours with your child than you do on any given day. He or she talks with the children in his or her care, feeds them, understands how they are feeling, knows their favorite activities, and observes them as they develop and grow. Don’t hurry home without hearing about your child’s day. The more you understand about how your child spent his or her day, the better you will understand how he or she is doing in child care. Child care providers hope that by sharing information, parents will feel more comfortable about leaving their children in their care.
Take advantage of efforts your child care provider makes to communicate. Some common methods include:
Communicating with your provider will help you feel more involved with your child’s care. Communication is an important key to quality care—it’s essential for both you and your provider to develop a parenting partnership.
Communication can also prevent conflicts between parents and child care providers. Differences that are discussed early can often be resolved before they become major issues. Sometimes, however, you may need to deal with conflict concerning the care of your child.
There are times you may find yourself needing to talk with your child care provider about an issues. Here are some issues parents and child care providers may encounter:
Research shows that providers have conflicts with parents because of differing parenting values, limited interest in the child, and lack of respect for the provider. Common actions that bring about these conflicts include not paying on time, arriving late to pick up children, or not treating the provider as a professional.
Many parents will quit using the provider’s services instead of confronting a difficult problem. Although a change in child care may be one solution, it may also not be the best one for your child.
It’s important to think through the problem before confronting the provider. What happens if it does not get resolved? Is it worth confronting? Is it just a "pet peeve" or is it causing true concern for you and your child? Would it cause concern if your life was less stressful? How have you contributed to the conflict?
It is useful to separate the conflict into two aspects: emotion and content. In the parent-provider role it is important to consider the emotions of the individuals involved. Emotions that create conflict usually include feelings of guilt, shame, jealousy, anger, pressure, feeling left out, and worry. The content involved in conflict might relate to conflicting needs, disagreements over policies and practices, and differing ideas of roles.
If you think it is worth trying to resolve a problem, take time to set an appointment with your provider. Most communication occurs when children are dropped off or picked up. This is usually not a good time to deal with a conflict. Plan a time to discuss your concerns when your child isn’t present.
The following guidelines will help you in your relationship with your child care provider.
Here are more guidelines that will help you in your relationship with your child care provider.
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