Family Involvement at the Summa Academy
Family relationships are essential to well-being and happiness. Equally important, the pattern of relationship we learn in the family influence all our social interactions and are passed on to future generations. At Summa, we promote strong and healthy family relationships that lead to a lifetime of connection. We respect each family’s culture and understand that parenting practices are specific to the individual and to the family culture. The use of child development practices is always tailored to each family.
We help families thrive. Using the developmental approach of Natural Learning Relationships, summa staff helps parents to understand opportunities available to nurture healthy relationships in each student’s family. We care about family by providing experiential learning programs for the whole family.
At Summa Academy, parents are partners. We encourage parents to:
- Contribute to our understanding of their child
- Enhance the school-to-home-to-school relationships
- Share observations and insights about their child
- Share in our efforts to help their child thrive
A note about communication: All family relationships exist through communication. We help parents understand how careful attention to communication is critical to family well-being and is a key to family happiness. Communication that builds trust requires considering the child’s changing worldview and developmental capabilities. Summa staff work to promote effective communication between parent and child by providing easy-to-understand information and activities about communication appropriate to the child’s developmental stage.
Summa Academy family programs are designed to be quickly grasped and immediately applied. When parents know how children develop and grow, they can have realistic expectations of their child. And as these expectations connect to easily identified markers of the child’s developmental stage, frustration decreases for both parents and children.
Children benefit as the capacities available at each stage of development manifest. Parents benefit when their well-being is linked to that of the child. Benefits include:
- Greater self-knowledge with self-acceptance
- Courage to let go of old beliefs or feelings
- Staying power to spring back and move on
- Open-mindedness characterized by more patience and acceptance
- An increased ability to admit mistakes without self-blame or shame
- Increased competence and confidence in their parenting skills
- Greater connection and understanding of others
- Ability to rejoice in another’s growth
- Access to wisdom as seen in presence, insight, and gratitude
The bottom line: All society benefits when well-being flourishes in children, parents, and families.
