Adults Unite! You Are Not Alone!!!

With the school year entering its final stages, consider the year behind you. Think about your most challenging moments in the classroom if you're a teacher, or if you're a parent/guardian the most challenging moments with your child at home. Were there moments when you just couldn't get a handle on a situation? Episodes of feeling you weren't being heard? Respected? Effective? When they have needs that need to be met, children have an uncanny way of making us feel ineffective and inadequate. It's just part of their charm. But this post is not about children. 

Well, actually it's all about them by being about you and me, the adults in the life of children.

What I'm attempting to describe is the frustration we can feel as teachers or parents and guardians when we are functioning as a single adult in the life of a child. We have created a culture where everyone believes they have to function alone. We have in essence, divorced home from school, and school from home, and forgotten that children need us to work together.

I hear your thoughts as you're reading this:

"If I invite parents/guardians to help, they will walk all over me."

"They're the problem! Why would I try to work with them?"

"They're the professionals. They should be able to help my kid. That's what they get paid to do."

But I believe if we listen closer, we will hear a different story. One that is clothed in fears and insecurities:

"I'm afraid to call that parent/guardian. I've heard how they can be." (Give it a try! Maybe you can be the first one to help them feel that they are part of the team.)

"I'm not going to pick up the phone when I see the school calling. I never understand what they mean, and I always feel attacked. I'm not able to talk with them and feel confident that they will listen to what I'm saying." (Sure, they may be the educator, but you are the expert on your child and they need your input.)

"That parent/guardian is difficult. They believe their child does no wrong and will just blame me." (Try to call them seeking a solution, not to determine blame. Maybe you can be the one to build the relationship that will help their child succeed in school and beyond.)

"I'm working three jobs just to support my children and me. I cannot take calls during the day. The school will have to deal with it themselves." (Try to think of other ways to communicate with the school about your child. In this age of technology, we have e-mail, texting, or even the old-time paper and pen. Let's find a way that we can work together.)

There are a plethora of reasons home and school don't take the time to create the relationship necessary for student success. None of them are valid!  I know this sounds harsh, but it is irresponsible to deprive students of this imperative relationship. It doesn't have to be so difficult, scary, or perhaps the worst... indifferent. Students, all students, need to know the adults in their life are united to provide the support they need to succeed inside and outside of school. And you, the teachers and parents/guardians, need to know you are not alone! Your mutual respect, communication and support is available to you whenever you make the choice to build the connection for the benefit of the children who matter in your life. 

Want help navigating the school/home relationship? Leave a comment here or email me at: School2HomeConnections@outlook.com

Enjoy reading what I write? Copies of my book, Connections Across the Student Desk, are available on Amazon: LINK HERE  or Barnes and Noble: LINK HERE

Wish I could come speak to your staff and colleagues? Give me the topic, I'll make it come alive! Contact me! School2HomeConnections@outlook.com