Back-To-School Suggestions For Parents of School-Aged Children

By Eugene O'Reilly

For elementary school-aged children:

• Teach your child to politely cooperate with their teacher and adults who are in charge at school.
• For those beginning school, try this at home: teach them how and make it fun to:
• stand in line quietly, remember directions & cooperate
• raise their hand quietly to get teacher's attention
• Share and play fairly without fighting with other kids,
• BE POLITE, Older siblings can help teach the younger about what is expected at school as well.

An overall suggestion for maintaining good behavior in school is to teach your child how to be helpful at all times. That can include helping the teacher by not joining in when other children are misbehaving. It can also include children helping themselves by remembering that school is for learning and increasing their chances for a better future by not causing trouble for their teacher or other kids.

For all grades in elementary and middle school:

As well as possible get to know your child's teacher, the school principal and other school staff who supervise your child. Even a few minutes on the phone can make a big difference in the impression the teacher has about your child and you. If they know you are involved in your child's education and are communicating with them in a positive way, it can only help your child to function better in school. Teach your child to learn what the teacher expects and do it.

The more your child and teacher can trust each other the better the learning will go. Teachers teach better when children cooperate with them. Children learn better when they learn to cooperate with the teacher first. Help your child to understand this. Find out what your child's teacher expects and help your child to do that.

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