Understanding the connections between home and child care: The nature and circumstances of parent-provider relationships in infant and toddler classrooms

This study was designed to gain a deeper understanding of the nature and circumstances of parent-provider relationships in infant and toddler classrooms. It examined how parents and providers view their relationships, how characteristics of parents, providers, and children contribute to the quality of parent-provider relationships, and how parents' and providers' views of their relationships relate to their interactions in the classroom. Mixed methods, including questionnaires, observation, and interviews were used to collect data from 192 parents, 95 providers, and 5 directors from 14 child care centers in a large metropolitan area.;Parents and providers had largely positive, yet incongruent, views of their relationships. Characteristics of parents, providers, and children influenced parents' and providers' views of their relationships and communication. Parents' views of their relationships with providers were more positive when they had worked with them before and when they were less anxious about placing their children in care. Providers who had not worked with parents before viewed their relationships with parents similarly regardless of parents' anxiety levels. However, providers who had worked with parents before had less favorable views of their relationships when parents were more anxious about placing their children in care. Providers who had never worked with parents before viewed relationships more positively when they had more knowledge of child development. The opposite was true for providers who had worked with parents before. Providers with more knowledge of child development and more education had worse views of their relationships with parents than providers with less education and knowledge of child development. However, providers with more knowledge of child development reported communicating more frequently with parents. Providers also reported communicating more frequently with parents of children with easier temperaments.;Parents' views of their relationships with providers were also correlated with observations of parent-provider interactions in the classroom. Parents viewed their relationships with providers more positively in classrooms where providers said goodbye to parents more often and where parent-provider interactions were more positive overall. Director interview data helped contextualize quantitative findings. Implications for transition practices in early care and education settings, in-service training, and teacher education programs are discussed.