Nursery World - EYFS Best Practice: Why working with parents is key to working with babies

In the final part of this series, Meredith Jones Russell finds out why settings make an effort to build strong relationships with the parents who use their baby rooms

Like other settings, Snapdragons in Keynsham places importance on getting to know the parents of the babies in its care

For parents, leaving their baby at nursery for the first time can be a huge emotional challenge. Baby room practitioners have the responsibility of making them feel safe and happy, as well as their children.

‘We might have settled hundreds of babies before, but that parent is leaving the most precious thing in their whole world for the first time, with people they don’t know that well,’ explains Mandy Cuttler, head of pedagogy at London Early Years Foundation (LEYF). ‘We have to remember we are not just settling the baby, we’re settling the parents as well. You might get parents that call you a hundred times a day initially. But it's important not to just dismiss them as hard work. You need to understand where they are coming from.’

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