The importance of good communication in childcare can’t be overlooked. When you send your child to a childcare centre, you need to interact and communicate with the staff in an open and honest way without overstepping any boundaries. In turn, the staff should communicate with you openly, honestly and, of course, in a professional manner befitting a childcare worker.
Building Positive Relationships
Childcare workers receive training to enable them to build positive relationships with families but it doesn’t need to be mentioned that it’s difficult to do so when parents don’t make the effort to build positive relationships with them. Good communication is a two-way street, so you must bear this in mind when speaking to the staff at your child’s nursery school in Nottingham. Building positive relationships with the staff members at your child’s day care centre is very important for many reasons, including:
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You’ll learn more about your child’s needs and their development
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You’ll have a better idea of what your children are being taught
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You’ll enjoy your experiences at the day care centre much more
These are all great reasons for taking the time to get to know your child’s carers at the centre they attend and there are many ways that you can work at building mutually beneficial relationships, such as:
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Attend events at your child’s day care centre and speak to the staff members
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Sign up for emailed newsletters, etc. to keep up to date with what’s happening
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Speak to your child’s carers politely and with the utmost respect at all times
It isn’t at all difficult to build good relationships with your child’s carers as they’re people just like you, so think about how you’d like to be communicated with and do so accordingly when meeting with them.
Verbal and Nonverbal Communication
As communication occurs both verbally and nonverbally, we need to not only watch the way we speak and what we say when communicating with the staff at childcare centres, but also our body language and what we convey with our actions.
When we’re discussing our children, their needs and what we want for them, we tend to become more emotional than at other times and it’s in these instances that we really need to be careful with our body language. Instead of coming across as confronting, we need to use positive body language to indicate a willingness to engage in polite conversation and create pathways for communication between ourselves and our children’s carers.
At the end of the day, for the people who do such a great job looking after our children to feel comfortable talking to us about our children, their development and how they’re getting on at the centre, we need to be friendly, speak politely and use positive body language.
It doesn’t take much and it makes for much better experiences for everyone – childcare staff members, ourselves and, of course, our children. It’s hoped this article has proven interesting and that it gives you something to think about with regard to the importance of good communication in childcare.
