Five Ways to Motivate Parents - segment five

5. Welcome Questions With Open Arms

• Questions let you know how well parents understand what you've taught.

  Parents' questions are a good barometer measuring how well they comprehend the concepts and skills you're teaching. If they do not ask questions that clarify the information you provided, it may be a sign that they haven't been given enough information to form their questions.

• Questions help you gauge your relationship with parents.

  As parents become more comfortable with you and others in the class, the frequency of questions usually increases. You will also find that many times they will ask more personally revealing questions because you have demonstrated through your teaching an understanding of their problems. Another thing that happens when you are developing strong relationships with your parents is increased requests to meet with you one-on-one.

• Praise those who ask questions.

  Praising parents when they ask questions will help them understand that they are responsible for learning and that you can help them learn more when they do ask questions. Praise given frequently models to parents a new way of acting and can have positive effects on how they use the skills being taught.

• Give answers to questions that you can, and investigate answers to those you can't.

  Parents will ask some difficult questions. However, it is your responsibility to answer them truthfully. If you don't know the answer, don't be afraid to say so. If you try to bluff your way through, you might create more problems and diminish your credibility. If you don't know the answer, say something such as, "I don't have an answer for that one. Let me write it down, think about it and see if I can find an answer. I'll let you know what I find out next week." By being honest, you let your parents know that trust is important and that you don't want to do anything to destroy that trust.

Questions from parents can sometimes be daunting, but often they are excellent opportunities for learning, modeling, explaining and identifying misunderstandings. Questions also help your parents process information and share with others their thoughts, feelings and concerns.

This is the last installment in the motivating parents series. We hope you found the advice helpful and informative. To view the entire series, please visit our Past Articles page.