One thing you can easily do for your kids is to stay on the right side of their teachers. Being blacklisted by teachers won’t automaticaly affect the quality of your kids education, teachers are generally a professional bunch, but if you want to feel welcome at the school functions, be popular, get a good seat at the school play, not be the topic of playground conversation, and be invited on the school day trips follow this simple advice:

• Treat them with respect. These are smart, professional people who went to university for years. They know more about teaching than you do and like it or not this qualifies them to tell you how your child is progressing. A teacher educates 30 or more children each year, ask yourself how many you educate.
• Act like your child is important. Nothing annoys a teacher more than a parent who doesn’t prioritise their child. Did you ever answer the mobile while in a once a year parent/teacher meeting? You’re already in the bad books.
• Follow the rules of the school. Rules are about safey and about management. If you break them then you are endagering either yourself or the children, or creating a headache for a team of people who should be focussed on more important things than you.

Ultimately realise that you’re trusting your children to people who only have their best interests at heart. You should acknowldege that.

One final tip: I’ve talked about how to avoid getting on the bad side of a teacher, but how do you get on the good side? That’s simple. You’re all ranked according to the christmas present you give. It doesn’t have to be expensive, the most cherished gifts I’ve seen have been handmade, but you should definitely send something. It helps.

Tags: education, Parenting, teachers, tips

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