Becoming an Involved Parent

These days, you cannot expect your child to succeed in school on their own. As a parent, you must be involved in your child’s schooling to support their eventual success. This is true regardless of your child’s age or grade. Whether they’re in grade school, middle school or high school, you need to know how they are progressing. You don’t want to go along thinking everything is fine only to be blindsided by a failing report card.

Meet the Teachers

Take the opportunity to get to know your child’s teachers and other school professionals, including the principal, counselors and secretaries. Make a plan with them to stay in contact through periodic phone calls, emails or texts. Having a relationship with your child’s teachers will come in handy if grades start to slip or other situations, such as bullying, arise.

Other Steps You Can Take

• Talk to your children often about how things are going at school. This doesn’t mean you have to conduct an interrogation; just ask specific questions so they can share the highlights and challenges of school life.
• Have your children start keeping a log of class assignments. Check the log each night, and then make sure they are completing homework, studying for tests and quizzes, and keeping up with class work.
• Project an attitude of cooperation with school professionals. Tell them you want to work with them to ensure your child’s success in school.
• Determine how often you should contact school staff. Base your decision on your child’s needs and the teachers' schedules.
• In addition to maintaining contact, make a special plan to work with school staff when your children have academic or behavior problems.
• Attend open houses and other school events to familiarize yourself with the school and the personnel.
• In addition to academic progress, communicate with your child’s teachers and school staff about your child’s friends and other peer groups.

Many parents contact their child’s school only when they are upset about something. But the best way to build a strong relationship with school staff is to make positive contact whenever possible. Show appreciation for the efforts teachers and counselors are making to help your child. Everyone benefits when the relationship between home and school is positive and cooperative.

As with parenting in general, being engaged with your children and staying involved with their school-related activities will make them so much more likely to succeed in their academic endeavors.