Involving Parents Makes all the Difference

Tomorrow’s Youth Organization’s Core Child program just wrapped up its second week of classes. TYO introduces variety of programs designed to help children develop the ability to express themselves. TYO provides children from marginalized areas, such as refugee camps, with a safe environment to play. Teachers in the Core Child Program conducted parent-teacher meetings at the start of the session. Parents of more than 70% of enrolled children attended the parent-teacher meetings. In the meetings, parents share notes and observations about their children, including any known behavioral issues and learning disabilities. The information provided by the parents helps the teachers give the children the best individualized care possible.

Communicating with parents is both an approach and a process. Teachers introduce the content of TYO classes to thr parents- breaking down thr importance of thr learning objectives from each theme and subtheme. Similar meetings are also held midway through thr session to give teachers an opportunity to communicate any changes in behavior theyHamby haveobserved in thr classes. Our job as TYO teachers is to increase the level of parents involvement in their children's live sand increase the awareness and importance of early childhood education.

TYO provides children with a space where they can play safely in and develop their personalities. The targeted areas from Nablus are: Al-Ein camp, Balata camp, Asakar camp, Khallet Al-Amoud and The Old City. The programs start on Monday and continue through Thursday of each week for twelve weeks. During that time, children are  engaged in a multitude of creative activities which are already pre-planned by the teachers.

All too often the children attending TYO feel ignored in their home and schools lives. As such, TYO emphasizes the importance of ensuring that each child feels loved, cared for, and valuable. According to the World Health Organization, ‘complete health is a combination between physical, mental and social health, it’s not only the physical wellness.’ Using this holistic approach to wellness, TYO models each of it’s lesson plans to achieve cognitive, physical, and emotional development goals, equipping children with the confidence and self-worth they need to develop into healthy and productive individuals.

TYO aims on giving a safe environment for children and help them express themselves and their feelings and potentials through playing fun and creative activities in the classrooms.

The Core Child Programs which are already started and we’re now in the second week works on improving the children’s cognitive, physical and emotional developments as well as their language.

At TYO, the child is to be given enough space to express himself, his feelings, to get needed encouragement to participate with others, to communicate with them positively, increase his self confidence, skills and finally to learn the culture of acceptance of others no matter what.

This program - as part of Student Training and Employment Program (STEP!) - is sponsored in part by the Abdul Hamid Shoman Foundation.

-Haitham Okeh, Core Child Teacher