By Cynthia Martin

For the Sequim Gazette

School is getting toward the end of the year. Classes have been long underway, athletics are booming, and homework is coming home with some regularity. The beginning of the school year is something kids look forward to but so do parents.

As the school years go on, some things get lost. What is missing more and more as your child goes higher in school? It is one thing: parents.

When a child enters kindergarten, her parents are almost always involved. It is an exciting time for them as well as for their child. Even the schools recognize the importance of parents.

As the months and years go by, a change begins to occur. The children are still important. The teachers are increasingly important. The importance of homework continues to increase. But the importance of parents’ involvement in schools begins to lessen. The parent’s role is relegated to PTOs or PTAs to help raise money. Don’t misunderstand. That is an important role, but it doesn’t make up for the need for parents to be involved in their child’s schooling.

So how can this be corrected? This is a problem for schools and parents. This isn’t a problem that children can solve.

Schools need to reach out to parents to keep them involved. Parents need to be ready to help their child to do well in school.

Parents were the child’s first and most important teacher when they were born. They will remain a child’s important teacher all the way through growing up and into the adult years.

As a parent you may not know all the things your child’s teacher is teaching her, but you should try. Read the instructions. Understand what she is learning. Encourage her. Let her know you are proud of her.

When you don’t understand and she doesn’t either, encourage her to get the help she needs. Part of your role is being part cheerleader, part counselor and part motivator while you are also being part teacher and a parent.

Think of the advantage you give a child when you stay involved. If you aren’t there and another parent is there for the child next to yours, imagine the great advantage that gives the other child. It is like the difference that children have when they enter kindergarten if you have read a book or two to them every day. If you read just one book a day, your child will have read over 1,500 books when she enters kindergarten.

Most parents will read a couple of books when they are reading to their child because these books can be so short. Then compare your child’s readiness to read if she has read between 1,500 and 3,000 books before school begins to that of a child whose parents don’t read to him. The child who reads with their parent has a major advantage. The same is true with numbers, letters, facts, and most information.

This role of helping your child in school shouldn’t end. Keep it going. Even without the school encouraging it, keep it going.

Parents need to be and should be involved with their child’s school. Parents are a school’s allies, not their enemy. They can help lessen the teaching load by being a tutor at home. Too many teachers feel intimidated by parents when they should welcome their assistance.

One last note about this issue. I talk about parents, but I don’t just mean parents. I mean any significant other in your child’s life. It may be a grandparent, an older brother, a neighbor, or anyone who is important in your child’s learning. Make sure someone is involved with the school in teaching your child to the best of their ability.

_________________

Cynthia Martin is the founder of the First Teacher program and former executive director of Parenting Matters Foundation, which published newsletters for parents, caregivers and grandparents.