Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/living-in-the-real-world-managing-expectations-notes-to-parents/5011826/
Where do parents get their crazy ideas? Overheard at a conference workshop on working with parents:_ Don't parents know that toddlers bite?
_ Why do they expect that their child can stay inside?
_ Do they think that I am getting rich off of this?
_ Do they expect the same TLC in a 20 kid preschool with 1:10 ratios that they got in the toddler room with 1:5 ratios?
_ Don't they realize not everyone can have the lead teacher as the primary caregiver?
_ Do they expect us to be like first grade?
_ Why do they expect that their sick child can stay and everyone else's should be excluded?
What do parents expect from us anyway? Good question. A lot! But where do their expectations of us come from? From everywhere: media, their experience with child care or the lack of it, Choosing Child Care handouts and - most of all - us. It's not just what we say and do, but what we don't say. If we know which issues will devolve into a clash of realities, and we certainly do, we can help to shape expectations and reduce conflict.
Parent Notes
We create expectations in all of our materials, from the center brochure to the parent handbook to signs on our walls. ...