Parenting Guide

10 ways to support your child and the school

Successful kids and successful schools usually share a secret ingredient: supportive parents! Remember, you don't have to do everything! Choose the activities that fit your interests and schedule.

1. Make sure your children go to school ready to learn

• Pack their backpacks the night before
• Get 8 to 10 hours of sleep
• Have a healthy breakfast

 2. Make time for homework

• Set up a study area with good lighting and a dictionary
• Limit television to a minimum
• Take part in the process but NEVER do your child's homework for them
• Take 5 minute breaks for every 1 hour of homework
• Stretch limbs to get blood circulation moving
• Relax and share a laugh with your kids

3. Monitor your children's academic progress

• Be proactive and call the teachers whenever possible
• Attend scheduled parent-teacher conferences to get acquainted with their teachers
• Contact teachers at other times to find out whether your children are keeping up with assignments

4. When there's a problem, work with the school on your child's behalf

• If your child starts to slip academically, make an appointment with the teacher to put together a plan for correcting the problem.
• Teachers appreciate parents who reinforce the importance of schoolwork, and your child will have a better chance of succeeding if you and the teacher agree on a strategy.
• Make the teacher an ally to help your child succeed.

5. Attend school functions

• Attend back-to-school night, the spring concert, school plays, talent shows and other school events to show your children that you value their school.
• Encourage your child to participate in school events no matter how small their role is.
• Everyone matters.

6. Volunteer at the school

• Lead by example and show your kids the importance of traits such as humility, perseverance, teamwork, resourcefulness and resilience.
• Talk to other parents. Build long lasting ties by really getting to know them as a person.
• Throw the competitive, one-upping mindset out of the window. Just show up and enjoy the moment!

7. Take a leadership role at school

• You can offer to serve on the school site council, which oversees academic planning for the school, or on a district-wide committee or task force.
• Schools and districts often have committees related to curriculum, student health, after school programs, technology and more.
• If there is no task force or committee, discuss this with other parents and start one yourself!
• Never be afraid to be true to yourself and learn from your experiences.

8. Evaluate your school's performance

• Ask around for the data of the school's achievements in the past years
• Compare this with the performance of other schools
• Troubleshoot and make intelligent guesses as to why the school might be lagging in certain areas
• Propose solutions to the school committee
• Reflect on the outcomes and repeat the process if some issues are not resolved

9. Help your school improve

• Parents can have a direct impact on school success by organizing after-school tutoring programs, bringing in speakers for parent education programs, starting academic enrichment workshops and introducing other school improvement projects.

10. Get involved in politics

• Try to schedule debates for parent-related communities
• Keep things civil and friendly. We can debate and call each other out on certain behaviors
• Then, after that, go out and have a drink together. Life's not worth the stress of being Mr/Miss "I am right, you are wrong."

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