It's important to build positive relationships with your child's teacher.
Teachers need love too…
And not just in the traditional form of bringing them shiny red apples.
Just as we know that what you say to your kids can have an impact on how they feel, the same is true for your child’s teacher.
They need to hear good things too…
But often they hear things that make them feel unappreciated and disliked.
You don’t have to contribute to this bad trend.
Here are some of the things NOT to say to your child’s teacher if you want to have a good relationship with them throughout the year…
“My child is acting up because he’s bored. He’s so bright.”
“I’ve been teaching for 13 years, and I would say in that time I’ve had maybe one or two children who were truly bored and I immediately got different material for them,” says teacher Thea LaRocca, who has taught 3rd through 5th grades in Raleigh, N.C. “I didn’t need the parent to tell me.”
LaRocca says she understands that parents naturally want to think the best of their child, but she suggests that they try to be honest with themselves and think about why their child is acting up, then ask the teacher for strategies to deal with it. “If you truly think your kid is bright, ask for more work,” she says.
This is an important one.
Especially the part about parents being honest with themselves about why their kids might be acting up in school.
Instead of automatically blaming your child’s school work, or the teaching style for why your child is acting up…
Be curious.
Ask your child’s teacher what she notices about when your son or daughter acts up the most. Then work together for ways to approach the situation so that your child can start behaving better.
You + your child’s teacher = Great help for your child!
Here’s another one from the NOT-to-say files:
“Our old teacher didn’t make us do that,” or “Mrs. So-and-So doesn’t make her students do that.”
“Teachers usually have a good reason for what they’re doing,” says Anne Marie Sytnyk, a 2nd grade reading specialist in Jersey City, N.J., who has taught for 40 years. Instead of challenging the teacher on an assignment, ask for the reasons behind it.
“Give them a chance. At least give them until the first marking period, and maybe you’ll see why the teacher does what she does,” Sytnyk says.
Try to leave your past experiences…in the past…and give your child a fresh start with her current teacher.
Of course there will be differences, but your child also needs to learn that there are different types of teachers out there, and different types of people they’ll come across in life.
If you run to their “rescue” by trying to make things like they used to be, your kid may not learn to be good problem solvers or how to get along with a variety of personalities.
Check out the full article for the other 8 suggestion for what NOT to say to your child’s teacher…and how you can handle the issues instead.
Your Turn! Do you know something that teachers don’t like hearing? Post it in the comments section and let us know what happened.
10 Things Teachers Don’t Want To Hear From Parents [School Family]
