Early Childhood - Connecticut State Department of Education

Social-Emotional Competence and Family Relations Chapter 10
SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
IN THE FAMILY
While children are developing as individuals and as
members of a group, they are immersed in learning the
social rules and values of their cultures and families.
Ethnicity, race, religion, region, social class, gender, sexual
orientation and physical abilities make up some of
the dimensions of the human experience that we know
as culture.
The customs, traditions and values of children’s
families and cultures shape and influence their classroom
experiences. Culture affects how we communicate with
each other. We interpret all we see or hear through the
lens of our own beliefs, values and experiences. It is common
to misinterpret or misunderstand the communication
style of someone from another culture. Each culture
has its own defined communication system, including
actions, gestures, words, postures, facial expressions,
tones of voice, and ways of handling time, space, materials,
work and play. Children learn the rules and norms
for communicating and interacting from their families.
Cultivating a deeper understanding of children
in the context of their family cultures may prevent misunderstandings.
Teachers must take into account family
values regarding behaviors and rules, and develop
an understanding of how relationships with adults in
authority are perceived in various cultures. These expectations
affect the child’s responses within the classroom,
and misunderstandings can create confusion and
discomfort. For example, certain cultures frown upon
children looking directly at an adult during a conversation.
Others encourage dependence on adults, for example,
in feeding or decision making, beyond Western expectations.
Teachers who understand children’s home
cultures are able to more fully understand their learning
needs, and are better able to make all children feel
safe and supported in the classroom. The importance of
family relations is addressed in the next section.
FAMILY RELATIONS
Early childhood teachers play an especially important
family support role. By building relationships with
parents and other significant adults in their students’
lives, teachers contribute to the creation of safe and
healthy learning environments for children. The
ultimate goal is for the significant adults in each child’s
life to work together more effectively as partners to
promote the child’s development and learning.
This type of partnership must reflect the
different roles, attitudes and needs in multiracial and
socioeconomically diverse populations. In a partnership,
all partners share rights and responsibilities, power and
decision making, and mutual trust and respect. Schools
have long sought parental involvement. Using the term
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partnership rather than involvement captures the idea
of shared responsibility for children across the three
contexts of home, school and community.
In recognition of the importance of partnerships
that support early learning the Connecticut State Board
of Education adopted a Position Statement On School-
Family-Community Partnerships in August 1997. A
“Guide to Using the Position Statement” explains the
role of early care and education in fostering socialemotional
development as follows:
A Role For Early Care
And Education Programs
Every early care and education program
can develop effective strategies to
involve all families in the education
of their children. Partnerships with
parents have been a primary focus
of the early care and education field
since its inception. However, based on
national surveys, families indicate that
they would like more information and
opportunities to be actively engaged
in their child’s education. Early care
and education programs can offer
a comprehensive school-familycommunity
partnership program that
makes some connection with all families.
Not all families can take advantage
of all partnership activities, but every
family can be involved in some way.
Early care and education programs
can provide training and support to
staff and administrators in the areas of
setting partnership goals and effective
practices as well as strategies for
monitoring progress to learn which
practices are most successful.
Because early childhood educators
have a holistic view of young children,
they are uniquely positioned to assist
families in connecting to resources
in the community. To make these
connections, early childhood educators
can become knowledgeable about
community resources by contacting local
organizations and state information
sources such as Infoline (available
by dialing 211). Finding out about
community resources that are available
to families is the first step. Bringing the
needs of young children and families to
the attention of the wider community is
the next step. Early childhood educators