At Park West Co-op, parents in our morning classrooms take turns assisting in their child’s classroom throughout the school year. It’s one of the unique and meaningful aspects of our cooperative model: teachers and parents working together to create a strong, inclusive classroom and school community.
Having parents in the classroom certainly supports the rhythms and routines of our school day. But its value goes far beyond an extra set of hands. Assisting gives parents an opportunity to be active participants in their child’s early learning: to see their school world firsthand, understand what captures their curiosity, and experience the relationships and routines that shape their days.
Research supports the importance of this kind of family engagement during the early childhood years. Decades of research have connected meaningful family involvement with children’s learning and development, including school readiness, literacy, and social and behavioral outcomes. Just as importantly, experts emphasize that effective family engagement isn’t simply about parents attending school events. It’s about creating genuine, reciprocal partnerships between families and educators, with both contributing to a child’s learning and development. At Park West, our cooperative model gives families a particularly meaningful opportunity to build that partnership by stepping into their child’s classroom and experiencing their school life alongside them.
A Chance to See Their World
Assisting in the classroom was one of my, and my husband’s, favorite parts of being members of the Park West community.
There was something special about experiencing a school day alongside our child: watching him become absorbed in play, seeing him interact with his friends, observing the thoughtful ways his teachers engaged with each child, and having the chance to contribute to his classroom community.
In fact, my husband and I used to negotiate over who got to assist because we both wanted to be there for the fun.
A time my husband won the negotiation and spent the morning in 4-Day with our son
Now that I have the opportunity to spend time in Park West classrooms in a different role, I get to watch other children and parents experience those mornings together. I see the excitement when a child gets to show a parent a favorite classroom activity, introduce them to the new materials in the gym, or explain exactly how something at school works. I see parents getting a glimpse into a part of their child’s life that they might otherwise only hear about at the end of the day or see in classroom newsletters.
And beyond the joy of those experiences, I think something even more important is happening.
When parents spend a morning in their child’s classroom, they send a powerful message:
This place matters. What you do here matters. Your ideas matter.
Children notice where we put our time and attention. In a world where so many things compete for adults’ attention, making time to enter their world, to sit beside them at the playdough table, build with them in the block area, or listen as they explain their latest idea, shows them that we value the work they are doing at school.
Making the Most of Your Assisting Day
As the school year gets underway and many parents begin assisting for the first time, I have a few suggestions for making the most of your morning together.
Follow your child’s lead.
Let your child show you how they experience their classroom. Maybe that means staying in one area together for most of long play, or maybe it means moving throughout the room as they excitedly introduce you to everything there is to do. There’s no need to direct the experience. Follow their interests and see where they take you.
Be curious and ask questions.
Give your child the chance to be the expert. Ask what they like to do in the playhouse. Notice what they’re working on at the water table and wonder aloud about what they’re doing or thinking. Instead of showing them how you might do something, give them the opportunity to show you. Their answers, and their ideas, may surprise you.
Take time to observe the teachers.
Park West teachers bring years of experience working thoughtfully with young children. Listen to the language they use. Notice how they respond to a problem without immediately solving it for a child, or how they ask a question that encourages a child to think a little further. Assisting gives you a rare opportunity to observe these interactions up close, and you may find yourself taking some of those approaches home with you.
You Don’t Have to Know How to Be a Preschool Teacher
For some parents, the idea of assisting in a preschool classroom feels completely natural. For others, it may be well outside their comfort zone.
If you’re in the second group, remember: you don’t need to know how to be a preschool teacher.
That’s what our teachers are here for.
Your most important job is simply to be present and engaged with your child. Your child already knows how to play. Let them take the lead and show you the way. When it’s time to help with snack or another classroom responsibility, the teachers will let you know what to do.
Years from now, you probably won’t remember whether you set up snack perfectly or knew exactly what to do every moment of the morning. But you may remember the elaborate meal your child cooked for you in the playhouse, the tower you built together, the story they insisted you read three times, or the enormous smile on their face as you played together in the gym.
And your child will have experienced something important, too: the knowledge that you made time to enter their world and show them that what happens there matters.