Review of From Parents to Partners: Building a Family-Centered Early Childhood Program by Janis Keyser

[This review of From Parents to Partners is by Carmen Behringer, a family child care provider and president of the Wisconsin North Central AEYC. It first appeared in the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association's summer 2007 newsletter.]

This book was a delight. As I began reading it, I thought, "I've been in Janis Keyser's shoes. All quality child care providers have." We know the importance of communication with parents. I'll tell you some of what I learned about creating a family-centered program to interest you in learning from Janis Keyser — through this book, or from Janis in person at the [Wisconsin] state conference in September.

I would read a chapter and, the next day at work, the staff was waiting to hear what I had read. My director asked to read the book when I was done. I went to a classroom and said, "I just read about a parent-to-parent communication board," and the staff said, "Cool idea! Let's do it."

I liked the idea of role-playing communication with parents in different situations. What better way to look ahead and be ready for difficult situations. And each teacher has a different way to handle situations, and different doesn't mean wrong.

Role-playing is also a great way to practice listening. Really listening is a huge issue in communicating with parents, listening to their tone and body language as well as words. It's also a great life lesson for children to really encourage them to really listen, and for us, as teachers, to be an example — to give children of all ages the respect of really listening to them.

The concepts and specific suggestions are marvelous. Family-centered programs are the future of child care, and this book should be part of the curriculum of early childhood education.