Involving Parents in the Program
What are ways you involve parents in your Clover Kids program? The more parents are involved, the better the experience is for the children! Parents are a valuable resource we need to tap! Sometimes I think we think parents have to be at the meetings to be involved in the program - but that's not entirely accurate! We need to help them get involved with their child's Clover Kids experience in whatever capacity they can! Here are a few ideas - let us know what you do!
1. Have a volunteer survey for parents to fill out when they enroll their children. On the survey, you can list areas that parents can help the group - like gathering materials, contacting other families for special events or meeting changes, donating snacks, helping with meetings, suggesting ideas for meetings, presenting activities and more!
2. Send home a note after each meeting so they can get involved with their children at home. There is a template for a meeting card on the CK website. You can use that to let parents know what you did at the meeting. Give them sample open ended questions they can use to talk with their children. That helps with the whole experiential learning process and helps the children build language!
3. Delegate! Put parents in charge of different aspects of the program -
Remember to have parents complete the child protection process if they are working directly with the children. The Extension Office can let you know who has to have the screening done!