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Introduction

Families are a major part of identity that carries each individual’s historical struggles

(Comacchio, 2022). They come in all forms and will greatly impact how children and parents

experience the world and choose to engage with educators. When working with families, early

childhood educators (ECEs) and families are currently moving towards a collaborative model

(Brady, 2023a). This includes the family-centred approach where parent engagement is

encouraged and they have the child’s best interest as the main focus. This is a big shift from the

educator being an expert and teaching parents. This model emphasizes co-learning with parents

and creating bridges between the home and the program to create a sense of similarity for the

children. The educator acknowledges that families are crucial in children’s lives and that each

family should be supported equally through programs. Each family is unique and diverse in its

social location, including their cultures and ethnicities, and how they deal with problems

(Shimoni & Baxter, 2019a).

Parent engagement is important as it helps ECEs create better programs that focus on the

individual’s abilities, needs, and interests that continue the care from home (Shimoni & Baxter,

2019a). Another benefit of educators and parents having a positive relationship is that the child’s

well-being will also benefit as families and their children’s well-being are linked (Brady, 2023a).

Therefore, I will be covering how I as an ECE would engage with parents by considering social

location, groups of minorities and violence, and communicating techniques to build relationships

and resolve conflict.

Social Location

When engaging with families I consider ther social location and how I can take that
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knowledge When engaging with caregivers and families I would be mindful and consider their

social location to help me determine what methods I will use to engage them that will be most

beneficial as it affects how we see ourselves and the world. Using the power flower, a person can

determine their social location which covers a variety of factors that make up their identity. It

allows them to be knowledgeable of aspects of their life where they are privileged and where

they lack privileges and are considered to be at a disadvantage. One’s social location can change

over their life through factors such as education, body type, and social class. While other factors

we are born with such as our ethnicity, race, and skin colour can’t be changed (Brady, 2023a).

2SLGBTQI+ Families

2SLGBTQI+ families are another minority on the Power Flower (Brady, 2023a). They

face discrimination and pressure from society as they don’t conform to the norm of being

cisgender heterosexuals. 2SLGBTQI+ parents struggle with the fear of losing the rights to their

children due to not fitting into the dominant models of family and fighting versus the

misconceptions that heterosexual parents are superior in raising their children. Gay Fathers

arguably face even greater struggle as men are not known to be primary caregivers in society and

are stereotyped to be inferior to a mother’s love. Nonetheless, many 2SLGBTQI+ families fear

the lack of representation and acceptance their children will face and some result in turning to

hide their true identities (Gibson & Gruson-Wood, 2022).

Black and Indigenous families

Throughout history, Indigenous people have faced discrimination, forced assimilation,

and segregation through the Indian Act and residential schools whose goal was to strip them of
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their culture and colonize them. Indigenous women would lose status when “marrying out” and

would not be able to return to living with their families on the reserve. Meanwhile, children

attending residential schools were separated from their families and underwent tremendous

abuse, with many dying at the school and not returning home. Those who did return home faced

many challenges such as loss of language and communication and feeling that they did not fit

into their Indigenous societies (Watts, 2022). Today, Indigenous children are still being taken

away from their families and put into the childcare system as Western culture’s views on

attachment and family structures are not the same as Indigenous cultures. This results in

Indigenous children being 48 per cent of the children in childcare (Brady, 2023d).

Likewise, Black families and children faced racism and segregation. Due to their skin

colour society labelled them as less intelligent and sub-human. Black children had to attend

separate segregation schools where they also faced abuse and lived with rules in their everyday

lives such as where they could sit in a theatre. To this day they have fewer opportunities and are

still fighting for their rights (Brady, 2023d).

Understanding and acknowledging the historical experiences of Black and Indigenous

families and discussing them with caregivers and families will allow us to avoid teaching

misinformation on these topics and respect the intergenerational trauma they experienced that

stems from the negative treatment. We can learn and co-create more inclusive and respectful

environments that promote the learning of Black and Indigenous history and how we can be

better today (Brady, 2023b).

Disabilities, Abuse and Violence

Black and Indigenous children who were disabled had their violence and abuse enhanced
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in these schools as they would have to rely more on their peers and adults and thus be more

vulnerable. Unfortunately, there will always be a power dynamic between children with

disabilities and those without, as well as adults. This causes all children with disabilities to be

more prone to neglect from programs such as school and their families. These children are at

greater risk for abuse and violence is enhanced if they face other systemic factors or are in a

minority group such as being 2SLGBTQI+. Some parents with disabilities may find it difficult to

ask for help and fear losing their housing, or financial security (Owen, 2022). When engaging

with parents, I’d try to better understand the disability that the child or parent has. I’d like to

communicate with the family and know how it impacts each member’s life and try to help them

at home by providing resources and referrals. I would want to get a better understanding of the

disability to provide the appropriate materials and environment, for example, a child with a

wheelchair will need wider aisles in rooms. Another goal would be to educate the other children

in the program to create a more inclusive environment among peers (Brady, 2023b).

Engaging Parents

In Canada, we have days such as National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, World

Autism Awareness Day, Black History Month, and Pride Month which all look to make people

aware of the issue at hand. However, the only downside is that these topics are forced into certain

days or months where they will be focused on and then potentially forgotten about until next

year. To tackle this problem, it is important to discuss problems, for example, autism year-round

by having discussions, and materials in the program such as books that talk about this disability

(Brady, 2023b),

As an educator, I would create a safe and welcoming environment for families. I’d have a
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positive outlook on the day while considering the family’s feelings to ensure that both the child

and parents feel valued, accepted, and supported which will create more natural communication

and genuine relationships. When a family begins a program I would provide all the information

needed and obtain information about the child that ranges from allergies and contact information,

to their routine and interests at home, and create conversations. When engaging with parents I

believe it is important to give advice I found useful from personal experiences, so I would

encourage with my help, creating a transitional routine that they are comfortable with to help the

child. I would create communication between the parents and myself that is the easiest for them.

This could be through digital communication or verbal phone calls (Shimoni & Baxter, 2019b).

For the setup of the room, I would place materials that parents have to interact with such

as a sign-in sheet on the opposite side of the room to where the entrance is. This is to create a

responsive environment for parents and non-verbally communicate that they are welcome here. I

would also have bulletin boards discussing important information in the community and

resources for parents and children. Some of these topics range from Black and Indigenous

people, 2SLGBTQI+ community, violence and abuse, disabilities, and more (Shimoni & Baxter,

2019b),

When working with families, conflict is inevitable and can occur for reasons such as

people having different values and beliefs, or it could be a simple misunderstanding.

Nonetheless, to engage parents better it is important to resolve and prevent conflict through

communication and problem-solving. This can be done by building strong relationships that are

professional and based on respect for each party's culture and religion. This is why it is important

to understand your social location as well as others to consider their perspective on life and to

truly empathize with the experiences they have undergone (Shimoni & Baxter, 2019b). If we
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don’t, this could add to the social factors that could prevent parent engagement that we could

have fixed otherwise. For example, an Indigenous family who feels a lack of cultural sensitivity

and knowledge of intergenerational trauma in their community may feel more comfortable

engaging if we created workshops that tackled the intergenerational trauma they face and the

hardships that they went through with the community. This would lead not only to a more

inclusive community where the people now understand and can empathize with the Indigenous

people, but it may also make the family comfortable to engage with the educator and peers.

Conclusion

As we discussed throughout this paper, parent engagement is very important for the child

and the family and is very complex in the multiple ways we can obtain that engagement (Brady,

2023b). We have to continue to consider social location and the variety of different factors it

encapsulates such as people’s cultures, ethnicities, religious beliefs, sense of identity, and more

to properly create meaningful relationships and inclusive environments for families and parents

to engage with us and feel important and heard of (Brady, 2023a).

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References

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Definitions, and Theories. In P. Albanese (Ed), Canadian Families Today, 5th edition (pp.

3-22). Oxford University Press, Canada.

Brady, J. (2023, September 15a). CLD 231: Families in Canadian Context I Week 2 Who am I?

& Canada’s Families: Historical and Contemporary Variations; Engaging with Parents

as ECEs [PowerPoint slides]. Toronto Metropolitan University.

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Engagement [PowerPoint slides]. Toronto Metropolitan University.

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Conflict [PowerPoint slides]. Toronto Metropolitan University.

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