The teacher/parent relationsip is almost as important as the teacher/child relationship. A positive relationship with your child's teacher can really and truly make a huge difference in their school year. Here are some ideas to help you, help your child's teacher.
Introduce yourself: Smile, shake hands, and introduce yourself to the teacher. Let them know who your child is. This gives them a face to go with the name, but don't be offended if they don't immediately recognize you. Teachers deal with a lot of parents and it takes time to get to know one another.
Food and snacks: Try to make sure your child has a healthy breakfast before leaving for school. If you have a child like mine that isn't the least bit interested in food at 6:15 am, tell them they must go to the school cafeteria and eat breakfast before school. It's also a good idea to keep a breakfast bar or granola bars in their backpack if they aren't breakfast eaters. If you pack your childs lunch or snack, pack healthy food.
If the teacher asks you to send in snacks for the class to share, send healthy food. It's probably a good idea to avoid peanut butter or nuts of any kind unless you've checked with the teacher and know beyond any shadow of doubt there aren't any children allergic to peanuts. It's also a good idea to check with the school and see if they even allow peanut butter products in the front door. Some schools ban any and all peanut products because of possible allergies.
Follow the class rules: Teachers have rules in their classrooms to keep order and promote education, not to make the children suffer. It's a good idea to follow the rules when you're in the classroom and always encourage your child to follow the rules. If your child gets in trouble for breaking those rules, don't make excuses.
Homework: It's your child's homework, not yours. Check out Homework Tips.
Don't overschedule: Some kids need to burn off some energy when they get home from school, while other kids work best going straight to the homework. Either way, provide time for homework by not overscheduling your child.
A little bit of Zen: Provide a little bit of time each night for some quiet, calm and peace. Even if it's only 15 minutes, a little bit of restful time can go a long way. This is a good time to read a bedtime story together.
Conferences or Problems: If you have a problem to discuss with your child's teacher, it's best done privately. Discuss the issue calmly, and be willing to really listen. You may not like what you hear, but staying calm is most important. Even if it means you need to schedule a second conference after giving some thought to the situation after discussing it with the teacher. Once a solution or plan of action has been established, then you bring in the child and both the parent and teacher discuss it with the child. That way everyone is on the same page and knows what to expect.
While you are your child's advocate, you're not supposed to prevent discipline from occuring when they've messed up. All children do at some point. It's natural. Being firm and setting boundaries from the beginning let's them know that school is serious and they'll have consequences for misbehavior. It is ok to make sure the discipline meets the action.
