There is nothing more beautiful than someone who goes out of their way to make life beautiful for others.
– Mandy Hale, author

As we have celebrated NAEYC’s Week of the Young Child, I hope you’ve noticed our overriding theme of nurturing relationships. For #FamilyFriday, we focus on one of the key relationships in any early childhood program: the ones you foster with families!

In the Exchange Reflections on “People Friendly Policies,” Mary Muhs invites a reflective and inclusive approach to implementing policies—those you develop and those you may be required to implement. This approach can offer an unlikely but rich means to inform and support families. Muhs adapts 10 Diversity Informed Tenets for Work with Infants, Children and Families with a set of questions to consider in implementing policies, including:

• How does this policy welcome, support, and nurture all families and children from across the globe?
• How does this policy support or combat privilege and discrimination? How do I know?
• How does this policy support a strengths-based perspective with each family?
• How are diverse family structures honored with implementation of this policy?

Muhs adds, “Using commonly held principles—such as developmentally appropriate practices—can ensure that policies reflect the commonality, individuality, and context of all families and children.”