Nursery World - Positive Relationships: Working With Parents

It’s important to get parents to support their children’s schematic behaviour, explains Helen Petrie

Most of us, as early years professionals, will have witnessed the relief on a parent’s face when you explain that their child’s schematic behaviour is perfectly normal!

One instance was during a parent’s initial visit to our playgroup St Winefride’s in Holywell, Flintshire. I noticed her daughter lay a doll flat on the home-corner work surface then cover it completely with a blanket, then a scarf, then another. When I explained that this was typical of a child with an enveloping schema, she looked relieved, and reassured that her daughter’s actions were not indicative of any developmental delay.

Given parents’ and carers’ bewilderment about schematic play, we decided to develop their understanding through an evening forum, as part of our commitment to working in partnership with them.

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