I’ve sent emails to teacher friends and got some great answers (some were kind of funny!) so here it is. The list of things your child’s teacher wants you to know.
1. Lunch – make it nutritious. Schools are working on making healthier school lunches – offering more whole grains, more fruits and veggies. So if your child brings their lunch don’t fill it with soda, chips and cookies. Not only does it fail to teach them healthy food choices, but poor food will reflect in the classroom! Food has the impact on making your child very tired, irritable, or wild and crazy. Feed their brains!
2. Send your child to school with a hug and a compliment – it will set their day full of confidence.
3. Remember it’s their homework, not yours. Seriously, who are you kidding when you do your child’s project and have them write their name on it. One you are teaching them they don’t have to do the work; that you aren’t confident in them that they can really do it. But two, do you think that their teacher isn’t smart enough to figure it out?
4. Field Trips – they need volunteers BUT know this. If you take the kids to the gift shop when you were told not to, act like a child and not a parent while on the trip, or spend the day stalking the teacher trying to just talk about your child you probably won’t get picked to go on the next one. Field trips are fun, but parents have to follow the rules too.
5. READ
6. Be a partner with your teacher – but do it privately. Don’t let your child hear negative things about their work or their progress. Don’t criticize your teacher to your child!
7. Being partners with your teacher does not mean that your child’s teacher does all the teaching. Manners, shoe tying, staying active, are all things that should be taught at home as well.
8. Follow the dress code. It maybe harder to get your children to follow the dress code in middle school and high school but they need to! While your child is still young and you play a larger role in picking out their clothes make sure that they are appropriate.
9. Start each year as a clean slate. Forget about last year when little Johnny would always forget to bring home his folder. It’s a new year – and a time for new progress!
10. Respect your child’s teacher! They aren’t there for the big pay check! Lots of teachers put in their own money to their classroom supplies for YOUR children. They bought that book your child borrowed and you found in his room a year later. They buy those reward pencils your daughter brought home. They bought those white board markers they use! Summers off don’t really mean summers off. They go to conferences, they work on curriculum. Some have summer jobs to help pay for said books, pencils and white board pencils. They come in early and stay late. Trust me – they do all that – and they really care about your child.
11. Make sure your child can tie their own shoes. PLEASE. (I think every teacher I emailed had this on their list!!!)
12. Don’t tell the teacher your child is bored. They put a lot of time, energy and heart into making learning fun and engaging. If your child finishes their work early and has nothing to do talk to your child about what they are supposed to do when they are finished. Often teachers give instructions on what to do while others are finishing. Is your child following those instructions? If your child genuinely doesn’t know what to do next ask the teacher to explain to them what they can do. I’m sure the teacher would be more than happy to!
13. Parent teacher communication is vital but know that a teacher is only 1 person with 2 hands and 25 students AND their parents to attend to. Plus they pass along information to resource teachers, any speech therapists/occupational therapists, principals, music teachers, etc. Newsletters? Read them. Not only does a lot of work go into making them, but they are full of important information. IT’S A PARENT’S RESPONSIBILITY TO KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON IN THEIR CHILD’S CLASSROOM!!!!
14. If your teacher comes to you with a behavioral problem please know that it’s not an insult to you or your parenting. Don’t say “well, he doesn’t do that at home.” We have different expectations for our children at a strangers house than we do at home so naturally we have different expectations at school too. Your teacher is coming to you to so you can work together on the problem. If you say you are going to talk to your child – make sure you really do!
15. Make sure your children have all their supplies at the beginning of the year and check again halfway through. If it’s snowing send them with boots. If it’s cold make sure they have a coat that is warm enough. There’s not much worse than having to send a child outside and then worry about if they are warm enough. In many states teachers are mandated by law to send kids outside. Make sure they are prepared!
16. If you are sending in a birthday treat make sure it is pre-cut/individually wrapped. If you send in pudding packs/fruit cups send in spoons. Celebrating special days is great but hard to cut,dish and serve 25 hungry kids at once!
17. Your child will make mistakes. They don’t know it all. (and as hard as it may be to hear – neither do their parents!) They are at school to learn. You shouldn’t expect them to know everything and ace it all. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Support them, tell them you are proud, congratulate them on the A’s and show them sometimes you have to work a little harder.
18. Turn off the TV!
19. Be on time. Whether you are dropping your child off in the morning or picking them up. Be on time. It’s embarrassing for the child to be the last one and the teacher has other things that they need to do!
20. Get off the phone. Whether you pick your child up, you meet at the bus stop or they walk through the door; those first few minutes should be your child’s. They want to tell you about their day! You want to ask about it (that way important details don’t get forgotten. Nothing worse than telling your child to brush their teeth and get into bed and they say “oh yeah, I forgot. I need to bring 25 cupcakes to school tomorrow.”) Show your child that you care and that you are interested in their day. Give them the respect of 20 minutes of your whole attention to listen. One day you will feel like you have to beg them for details on their day so don’t lose this time!
About Amanda
Amanda is a mom, blogger, brand ambassador and social media enthusiast. She lives in Indiana with her family and enjoys cooking, crafting, photography and most of all, being a mom.
Comments
Anonymoussays
I LOVE this list! I’ve been teaching for almost 30 years, and this is one of the best lists I’ve seen in one place. The only thing I can think of to add would be PLEASE feed your child something for breakfast. The child who is hungry at 9:30 will not be able to concentrate on that language test that they studied for last night. A grilled cheese sandwich, a yogurt and a glass of milk…something that will get them through to lunch would make a huge difference.
I LOVE this list! I’ve been teaching for almost 30 years, and this is one of the best lists I’ve seen in one place. The only thing I can think of to add would be PLEASE feed your child something for breakfast. The child who is hungry at 9:30 will not be able to concentrate on that language test that they studied for last night. A grilled cheese sandwich, a yogurt and a glass of milk…something that will get them through to lunch would make a huge difference.