How to Be an Involved Preschool Parent

Video Transcript

FELICIA FERRARA: Hello. My name is Doctor Felicia the parent coach. And I have been working with families and children for over twenty five years now. And I would like to share with you on how to become an involved parent in your child's preschool. Now, this is very important because your child is so small and, of course, it is sometimes harder for you to let go of them than it is for the child to go to school. They are usually pretty anxious to go meet other children. But as a parent, what can you do? Well, that depends on your own talents. For instance, we have parents that might speak Spanish and they volunteer to teach Spanish to the little children maybe one afternoon in a week or one hour a week. You might have better leadership skills, so you can volunteer your time as a board of director and help, and sit on the board. You can certainly start a PTA group where, that is a parent-teacher's association, where you would have the parent and teachers interact. And you can certainly volunteer for special events, whether there is a candy sale, a baseball game or a talent show going on at the pre-school. You can volunteer for any of that. And, of course, there is always preschool field trips where you might go to the zoo, etcetera, and supervise a few children. It is a lot of fun and it is being involve with your child. And there is so much to do at a preschool. I am sure that the teachers or their administrators would appreciate your time and efforts. And so while you do that, you are also sharing your child's experience. And that is a very rewarding bonding pastime for you and your child. So with that in mind, take a resource of your own skills and talents, what is it that you have to offer, make sure you have the time to make the commitment and also, put in a proposal for a special program that you might want to participate in. And by all means, all of it is done with the coordination of the administrator and the teachers of the preschool. With that in mind, you will be sharing your child's experience, and it is extremely rewarding. Good luck and happy volunteering.