Building Positive Relationships with Parents of Young Children

Anita M. Hughes is a Chartered Educational Psychologist, who has worked with families for over thirty years both for social services (in Early Years) and then in education services before becoming an Independent Consultant and Therapist. She is a mother of two grown-up children. Veronica Readis a Group Analyst and Independent Educational Consultant. She writes and delivers workshops on attachment for Early Years practitioners and works as a Specialist Teacher for an LEA. She has extensive experience of working with children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. Veronica is also a mother of two grown-up children.

I wish that a book like this had been available when I began working with children and their parents. It will be extremely helpful for practitioners just beginning in this area of work. But reading it as an experienced practitioner, I found it reaffirming. It gathered together the key messages that need to be part of a practitioner’s approach. Not many books help both groups of practitioner, but this one does! And it is done in a very reader friendly way.Tina Bruce

• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; INTRODUCTION; PART ONE: Laying the foundations of communication 1. Working in partnership with parents 2. What do we mean by Communication? 3. Listening – the number one communication skill 4. Developing Personal and Social Competence 5. How to feel OK; PART TWO: Communication skills in context 6. How to give shape and meaning to conversations with parents and carers in Early Years settings7. Delighting in the parents and carers of pre-school children at points of transition 8. Empathy and communication 9. Dealing with difficulty; Concluding thoughts: Parents, Practitioners and Playfulness; APPENDIX; Training workshop exercises; REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING