Visit with Each Family
Having an individual visit with the family, whether at the child care program or at the child’s home, is the ideal. Doing so gives parents the opportunity to share their intimate knowledge of their child as well as their hopes and concerns for him. A home visit also gives you a chance to observe the family’s interactions and to see the strengths a child manifests in a familiar situation. The more you learn about a child in advance, the easier it will be to help him adjust to school. Something as simple as knowing the name of a favorite teddy bear or family pet can comfort a frightened child.
For two years before his family had moved, Germaine had been in a family child care home with the same provider: Now, his mother, Mrs. Handholder, was concerned about taking him to a new child care center: “I’m worried about putting Germaine in Tots-R-Ours,” she told her husband. “He is not used to being with a wake group of children and with more than one unfamiliar adult.”