The purpose of this paper is to deepen the knowledge about young children employing the second standard to improve early childhood professional’s preparation. Even though early childhood professional is considered to develop children’s abilities, the role of family and community cannot be overestimated.
Standard 2: Building Family and Community Relationships
The standard of building family and community was chosen due to its undoubted importance as the family is the first social environment of children (NAEYC, 2010). It develops a child’s potentialities and abilities as well as his mental and physical health defining his future in general.
In my point of view, learning the chosen standard would contribute to my professional life. To begin with, the comprehension of young children’s community peculiarities would enhance the understanding of their behavior (Colker, 2008). During the first years of their life, children grow only within the family learning norms of human relations and adopting plenty of characteristics of the family.
What is more, the standard supposes involvement of the family in young children’s development and learning that promote one of the most significant mechanisms of socialization of children – reinforcement (Fults & Harry, 2013). It involves the unity of educational influences and their sequence of all adults both family and professional. If this mechanism is disrupted, children learn the rules of bad behavior cheating or creating bad habits.
Also, support of the family promotes children’s welfare (Feeney, Galper, & Seefeldt, 2008). It also develops the professional’s ability to maintain constructive educational efforts of parents and attract families to issues of children’s upbringing.
Questions to an Early Childhood Professional with Corresponding Rationales
- What methods and techniques would you apply in communication with family? It is important to know a set of ways to use in every particular case to be a better advocate.
- Identify ethical issues of the interaction between the professional and the family. Ethics plays an integral part of the early childhood teacher’s profession as it is directly connected to relationships between people.
- What is the role of the professional in the single-parent family? Sometimes, that type of family might cause difficulties as they differ from others. Professionals should be aware of how to act in complex situations.
- Why cultural competence is essential for the professional? Every family possesses its own culture and peculiarities; therefore, the issue of cultural competence cannot be omitted.
- Is using technology is appropriate in the case of the second standard? Nowadays technology plays a significant role in society. At the same time, it is necessary to limit the use of technology to preserve children’s health.
Contact Information
Mrs. Jenkins is an early childhood professional in my community who wants to e-mail replies to the above questions. She is 45 years old, married, and has five children. Mrs. Jenkins told me that she likes her profession very much. I explained to her that the assignment requires the professional’s answers that would contribute to the enhancement of my knowledge about the given theme. She was glad to help me.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it should be stressed that the paper reveals the essence of the second standard concerning family and community building. It was stated that communication with the family helps to establish the necessary contact between the family and the professional and attracts family to children’s upbringing. Additionally, the considered standard is rather useful for early childhood professionals as it promotes a better understanding of professional goals. As for prospective steps, it seems appropriate to consider all the other standards in detail to apply them in practice in my future career.
References
Colker, L. J. (2008). Twelve characteristics of early childhood teachers. Beyond the Journal. Web.
Feeney, S., Galper, A., & Seefeldt, C. (2008). Continuing issues in early childhood education. New York, NY: Pearson. Web.
Fults, R. M., & Harry, B. (2011). Combining Family Centeredness and Diversity in Early Childhood Teacher Training Programs. Teacher Education and Special Education: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children, 35(1), 27-48. Web.
NAEYC. (2016). Standards for initial early childhood professional preparation. Web.