Parental Engagement in Early Education: Impact on Child Development

Parental involvement plays a pivotal role in shaping children's learning experiences and their overall development during early childhood education. Engaging parents in their child's education can lead to improved academic performance, better social skills, and increased motivation among young learners. This essay explores the multifaceted impacts of parental engagement, highlighting how active collaboration between parents and educators fosters a supportive learning environment that encourages children’s cognitive, emotional, and social growth. By examining various research findings and theoretical perspectives, it aims to provide insights into effective strategies for enhancing parental involvement in early education settings.

Running head: LEADING AND MANAGING IN EARLY YEARS
Role of parents or role of education centers which is the most important?
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note:

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Introduction
Early childhood education refers to the education for the children between three to eight
years old. The education process consists of four learning goals namely knowledge, skills,
disposition and feelings. The implementation of the right strategies in such an education process
helps to shape the future of the child. The education received in his early years as a child helps
him to successfully overcome the challenges that he faces in the practical life and the school life.
Such an education helps the child to easily interact with each other and helps them to attain a
degree of trust (Allen and Cowdery 2014). The above sentences clearly depict the importance of
early education in the life of a child. However there is a huge debate over the years on whether
the parents or the child care centers have larger influence on the education of the child. The main
debate arises because a child spends a considerable amount of time with the teachers of the child
care education as well as their parents. Different experts have different opinions on the above
debate as some of them believe the role of the educators to be most important whereas some of
them have the belief that the role of the parents is way too important in the education life of the
child. These experts are of some different theories of their own which are quite convincing. The
following essay is based on the above argument on the role of parents and the teachers in early
education. The essayist has provided the necessary details in this essay that has highlighted the
role of the parents and the teachers and has provided arguments in each of the favors.
Role of Parents
According to Allen and Cowdery (2014) parents and families have the most direct and long-
lasting impact on children’s learning and development of social competence. The time when the
parents are involved, the child is seen to be achieving more and thus they exhibit more positive

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characteristics. The most key factor that supports the parental theory is the time that the child
spends with their parents. A child spends the most part of the day with their parents and thus
their involvement with the child is believed to have the largest impact on the development of the
child. Families are positive partners in promoting the positive social skills. Home visits, parent
visitation and to child care or school setting, workshops, telephonic conversations, newsletters,
face to face communication and some other similar methods are carried out to make sure about
the activities of the families in the homes. According to Castle et al. (2016) Parents are the ones
that help to integrate the ideas of the school knowledge within the child. The involvement of the
parents in the education process helps the child to learn in a better way as because the children
are more open in front of their parents and are generally shy to speak out while they are provided
the necessary education in the school. In order to make the strategies in the child education
program effective the involvement of the parent is the most necessary element. The early care
providers in the child education must make sure that the parents are involved in the system and
ask for the assistance of the parents to have a transparent understanding of the background and
any other information related to the child. A child is very much sensitive to the communication
between the parents and their behavior in the house. Therefore it is very much essential for the
parents to ensure a cool and calm atmosphere in the house so that the child can have a positive
mentality. A tense situation in the house will certainly reflect in his behavior. The early
childhood education is a beginning to the educational career of the child and thus he has to make
sure that they are involved in the education in such a way that it gives an idea of the classroom
setting (Castle et al. 2016). The parents always try to figure out whether their child is performing
like the other children. This leads them to investigate why or not they are performing and thus
they accordingly start their investigation on the above factor as to why not they have performed

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in the same way. The parents are the main people who determine the strength of the children,
their hobbies and their interests. The involvement of the parents in the educational structure of
the children helps to create a social environment which must not be underestimated in any way.
The parents have to perform some special tasks for providing their children the best possible
education. They are;
1. The parents must interact with the children for most of the time to learn about them and
instill a sense of self confidence to face the world
2. It is important for the parents to make sure that the children are treated in a fair manner so
that they does not feel any sense of negativity
3. As mentioned earlier there must be a friendly atmosphere in the house as because a
negative atmosphere in the house will lead to a sense of huge negative mentality in the
mind of the student.
Therefore the analysis of the following facts clearly reveals the role of parents to be a
huge determinant to shape up the future of the child.
Role of Teachers
An early childhood teacher must have multitasking abilities as because they are required
to fit into many shoes to make sure that they can deliver the exact solution that can shape up the
future of the child. It is believed that an experienced teacher already has the capabilities in him to
be flexible to the demands of the child as well as the parents. On the other hand a new teacher
must fit himself to the variety of training methods that are present to get a clear understanding of
the skills and also to gather the knowledge of performing those skills in the practical world to fit
into the early childhood education system. In most of the cases the role of an early childhood

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teacher is similar to that of a guide to a tourist as he has to go through all the complex activities
of successfully teaching the child (Fenech 2017). There are many different challenges that create
a barrier to the success of the educator. It needs excellent skills, strength and determination from
the part of the teachers to overcome such challenges and teach the child effectively. The teacher
always provides the necessary guidance to the children and always stands by them in times of
need. He has also the duty to identify his interests and help the child to move in the right
direction. The teacher acts as a friend to the child and makes sure that they do not act as the
person who tends to know everything related to the following. Such an act from the teacher can
be problematic for the student. The teacher must partner the child and encourage him to do
whatever he intends provided it does not harm any safety parameters. Castle et al. (2016) has
mentioned that the teachers also engage the child in different extracurricular activities to engage
them in a fun filled environment and make sure that the child is occupied with such a notion.
This helps to develop the artistic skills of the child as well as it helps the child to have a positive
set up of the mind.
The teachers are one of the most crucial factors for shaping the future of the child in this
particular phase of life as because he has to show enough love, patience and affection for the
child to help him develop in the emotional, social and other aspects of life. Communication is
another point that is worth mentioning (Fenech 2017). Proper and effective communication is
utmost important to understand the psychology of the child and his behavior and demands. The
primary task of the teacher is to carefully listen to the child which will be helpful to determine
the needs of the child. The knowledge about the needs of the child is useful to determine the
particular strategy to be implemented on the child which will help in his overall development.
Teachers are the ones who are perhaps involved in the communication with all the people that

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are involved in the developmental process of the child. This includes parents, staffs of the child
care centers, general people and most importantly the child himself. The teacher must be
adaptive to the situation and discuss all the relevant issues and other important discussions
frankly so that each and every concern of the student is addressed. The profession offers roles,
responsibilities and commitments and thus the teacher have to provide the best out of him to
garner the maximum possible success. However the shortage of time in the educational care
centers reduces the scope of the teachers to be the most effective person having the largest chunk
of contribution in the future of the child (Friedman et al. 2014).
Main Arguments
The most ambitious and expensive educational evaluations conducted in different
countries across the world have found out that the role of parents is perhaps the most important
when it comes to the development of the child. The child is believed to be swept away by the
influence of a parent much like a small stream that turns out into a river after it reaches the
maturity (Friedman et al. 2014). There are lots of teachers, guides and other people who tend to
block the path of the flow, but the child has to make sure that he do not stop his flow and divert
his way to meet the seas. The role of the teachers can also be said to be that of a current which
sometimes increased or sometimes tend to decrease the flow of the river. However according to a
large number of experts or a healthy chunk of people parental influence is much more consistent
and effective to shape up the life of the child and make him an ideal person for the future. It is
also argued that an educator who is motivating can also help the child to attain his goal by
helping him follow the right path from the beginning itself. In the early years of the education of
the child the parent is believed to be the most important factor in the life of the child. A time
bound by love for caring and sharing is never ever comparable to an ordinary life and thus the

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years of early education turns out to be of such importance the child in having a well formulated
life. The growth of the child from his early years marks the growing influence of the parent over
the child. This is a crucial juncture for the child to adapt to the practical world and make a life
worth mentioning (Gestwicki 2013).
In other words teachers also fail on some other cases which is perhaps one of the most
crucial part of the child’s life. Parents can easily motivate their children on a regular basis better
than the teachers as because the presence of a large number of children in the teaching vicinity
restricts the teacher from taking specialized attention of the child. The motivation thus provided
to the child by the parents is an indispensible part of the child care curriculum. The parent can
also act as the guide to the children by instilling in them some proper eating habits and can help
them to learn health care activities which cannot be acquired from the educational centers of
early childhood education (American Academy of Pediatrics 2013). However according to
Gestwicki (2013) the knowledge of such habits is one of the main factors behind the
development of the child. The parents can only change the bad medical and health habits of their
child and thus plays a vital role to keep their children healthy and happy. If a child is introvert he
might not open up about his problems in front of the teacher he might fail to understand a
particular thing. The parents can discuss on the same with the teacher as the child is much more
familiar in his house than his school. Moreover in such a situation he may feel embarrassed to
explain about his problem and will find it much easier to communicate his problem to his father
or mother, who in turn can forward the necessary to the educational centers. The parents thus
have a huge influence on the minds of the child as he feels them to be their ultimate friends when
it comes to the early years of education. The main reason behind the importance of the parents is
the fact that they are present in the life of the child from the very first day of his existence in the

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world and thus they have the huge responsibility over them to implement the necessary social
and personal skills in them that helps them to be the perfect human beings in the future. It is
important for the parents to behave in a proper manner in front of their child so that they do not
have any negativity towards them. Some experts in the following field of study have also
suggested that the parents are still believed to have a concern for their child when they are away
to schools (Gregory 2017). Different studies have claimed about the importance of parental
involvement in the successful development of the child. PISA study has noted that on an average
the score point difference in reading is associated largely with the situation when the parents read
out a story book in front of their children. It has been proved by different researches that the
numbers of students who have been successful are the ones who have been blessed with a greater
amount of parental involvement in the early childhood years. According to the study conducted
by Henniger (2017) there are different things that are involved in such a achievement like
checking in the daily requirements of the child on a regular basis, proper communication, proper
care, great love and affectionate nature. Such things or considerations have helped the parents to
make their child the best in the world. To the surprise of an age old belief that only people
belonging to the affluent society can involve them in a proper child education program. The
academic achievement of the child can also be linked to the success of the parents in integrating
a successful education program by the parents. It was found out that the parents who paid a little
more attention to the development of the child was able to make their child more successful in
life. But in contrary to the earlier belief in a different case there was a study conducted by a
University in UK which showed that two way adult child conversations were six times the
promotion of the development of language in which the parents had the main role. Such
understandings help the kids to grow up with an assertive learning and develop quality thoughts

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which help them to take wise decisions that influence the future. The content of parents’
conversations with the kids matters, too. Children who hers counting and numbers calculation at
their respective houses begin their school life with a much more advanced mathematical
knowledge, report researchers from the University of Chicago — this are the knowledge that can
predict the future achievement in the subject. According to Mol and Neuman (2014) , who led
the study on number words, has also found that the amount of talk young children hear about the
spatial properties of the physical world, how big or small or round or sharp objects are, predicts
kids’ problem-solving abilities as they prepare to enter kindergarten.
Conclusion
The essayist has clearly written in support of the parents and has mentioned about the
importance of the parents in the education of the child than the importance of the teachers and
the institutions for the same cause. The essayist has clearly mentioned about the different factors
that really proves the credentials of the parents in the development of the child as an individual.
The following essay has provided the exact reasons behind the importance of parents in child
care education. They are;
1. Children live with their parents at the time of childhood and thus they spend almost the
entire time in the house as school hours are limited to just 3 to 4 hours which makes it
impossible for the teachers to evaluate the student and manage them in accordance to
their needs.
2. The children are much more influenced by their parents’ decision as they observe their
parents much closely than the teachers in the child care centers.

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3. Parents can understand their children and their psychology much better than anyone and
thus they have the advantage in such cases (Jackman Beaver and Wyatt 2014)
4. The parents can easily communicate with the child and on the other hand the child also
feels free to communicate with their parents.
5. Trust is the crucial element that makes the parents emerge as the winners in case of the
importance of the child in his early education. The trust established with the passage of a
long time helps to seek different advices from the parents as they believe that parents are
the one who can guide them to their successful life and choose them the best way to
follow.
The following essay has thus been able to meet all the requirements of the essayist. The
assessment of the essay by the readers will help them to understand the child care education and
the approach to it by both the teacher and the parents (Mindes and Jung 2014). The arguments
provided to support the view has a strong source and compactness which has made the essay
much more attractive in nature. However the essay could have highlighted some extra points on
the above study. The following essay will surely be one of the best works for any future
references by other readers or researchers.

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