Parental Involvement
As a parent, there are many opportunities for you to become involved with your child’s preschool experience at Forest Hill Nature Preschool. Parents are invited to chaperone for field trips, lend objects to the school to enrich classroom themes, help your child at home with the concepts we are learning in school, help your child choose items and prepare for show-and-tell, provide treats or other items for class celebrations, come in to read to your child’s class, and volunteer to help with special days at school. In addition, we plan several parent and child events throughout the school year to offer special opportunities for you to spend time with your child in the school environment and with your child’s classmates and teachers. Parents drop off and pick up directly to your child’s classroom, giving parents regular opportunities to talk to the teacher and to see what your child has accomplished in school. Password-protected class web pages give parents an extra insight into your child’s classroom and some of the fun and exciting projects that your child is involved in during the school day.
Our center has an open door policy, meaning that parents are welcome to come and visit the school at any time. We do ask, however, that you take your child’s reaction to your presence in the classroom into account when you plan a visit. If your child becomes upset or clingy and refuses to engage in his or her usual routines because you are visiting, it would be better for you to visit at another time. Coming at a later date to visit will allow your child some additional time to adjust to the classroom environment before you visit the classroom again. In addition, if your visit to the classroom causes other children in the class to become anxious and upset, we ask that you please excuse yourself and plan to visit on a later date, in the interest of the other children in the class.
If your child is routinely upset and clingy when you drop him or her off at school, your child’s teacher will likely encourage you to say a quick goodbye and be on your way. Please understand that this is in the best interest of your child. Saying a quick and confident goodbye and then leaving will help communicate to your child that you know that he or she is in a safe place and that you feel confident that everything will be OK. After you leave, your child’s teacher will provide comfort and distraction, and will reassure your child that you will return to pick him or her up at the end of the day. If you stall in leaving because your child is upset or appear upset yourself, what you are actually communicating to your child is that you are anxious about leaving your child in the school environment. This reaction will only increase your child’s anxiety. Anxiety at drop off time is most often an issue for our younger children, but as the children begin to settle into more familiar routines, this anxiety usually subsides and children become more and more confident about separating from mom or dad.
Our center has an open door policy, meaning that parents are welcome to come and visit the school at any time. We do ask, however, that you take your child’s reaction to your presence in the classroom into account when you plan a visit. If your child becomes upset or clingy and refuses to engage in his or her usual routines because you are visiting, it would be better for you to visit at another time. Coming at a later date to visit will allow your child some additional time to adjust to the classroom environment before you visit the classroom again. In addition, if your visit to the classroom causes other children in the class to become anxious and upset, we ask that you please excuse yourself and plan to visit on a later date, in the interest of the other children in the class.
If your child is routinely upset and clingy when you drop him or her off at school, your child’s teacher will likely encourage you to say a quick goodbye and be on your way. Please understand that this is in the best interest of your child. Saying a quick and confident goodbye and then leaving will help communicate to your child that you know that he or she is in a safe place and that you feel confident that everything will be OK. After you leave, your child’s teacher will provide comfort and distraction, and will reassure your child that you will return to pick him or her up at the end of the day. If you stall in leaving because your child is upset or appear upset yourself, what you are actually communicating to your child is that you are anxious about leaving your child in the school environment. This reaction will only increase your child’s anxiety. Anxiety at drop off time is most often an issue for our younger children, but as the children begin to settle into more familiar routines, this anxiety usually subsides and children become more and more confident about separating from mom or dad.