A couple of weeks ago, I had the honor of presenting with a colleague at the NC Head Start Association conference. Our session was all about engaging parents.
On one of the slides, I included an original bullet point written from my experiences. In the half a dozen or so times I've spoken to groups about parent engagement and parent voice in the context of early childhood, I've always included this one particular point I believe is critical to relationship building with families. That bullet point is this:
When you listen and follow through, you build trust.
Of course, the sentiment can be applied to much more than parent engagement activities. Meanwhile, during the presentation, an enthusiastic participant repeated it out loud, then said, "I'm writing that quote down! I love it!" Others around her nodded and also scribbled down the point.
A chill ran up my spine. It was the first time something I wrote was ever noted and quoted. At least that I'm aware.
As a writer, it doesn't matter that it wasn't an article, blog, or book. That I articulated a meaningful thought through written word, and that it resonated enough for someone to repeat it and write it down so they wouldn't forget it validated every path, twist, and turn on my writing and life journey.
