HOW TO BUILD A PARENT- TEACHER RELATIONSHIP

HOW TO BUILD A PARENT- TEACHER RELATIONSHIP

“Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.”
— Henry James

Do you know that the best time to say, thank you, to your child's teacher is after the long vacation? Yes, 'summer vacation' as it is fondly called. Parents will appreciate the efforts of teachers each vacation period. You may agree with me that some mothers would have almost had relapse during this period, due to the need to accommodate the restless nature of the preschoolers.

Children are pleasant to have and beautiful to behold but if not properly engaged, the experience might be unpleasant. All a child want, is to be engaged, it is now left for the child minders, parents or teachers to monitor and guide the child's activities.

*(1) One Basic Rule Of Parent- Teacher Relationship Is APPRECIATION

It baffles me when some parents question the relevance of teachers whereas during vacation, many find it pretty daunting staying with their children for 48 hours. A teacher stays with your child between 8am and 2pm in some schools, while in some other schools, 8am to 4pm. 

Now if we calculate this time you will find out they are spending between 6 and 8 hours with your child. 6 hours *23days =138hours, while 8 hours *23 days =184 hours and in a case of after school 8am-6pm is 10 hours *23 = 230 hours. 

A good look at this calculation, brings to mind that a teacher spends an average of 230 hours every month with each child and in a case where they have about 20 pupils in a class it will only mean they nurture 20 children on the minimum, within this time. Yet they have to study at their spare time. This clearly reveals how challenging the role can be.

Mrs. Thompson’s first child seem like a precious stone to her and upon enrolling him in his first school, she bothered about so many things and would argue with the teacher almost every day. Soon she was tagged the “controversial parent” and her next desire was to change the school. I had to talk to her about, “Parent –Teacher" relationship and the need to respect and love the child’s teacher. It is not rocket science, if you disrespect, hate or look down on your child’s teacher, it will also affect your child. 

In as much your focus is on your child’s well being, you also need to consider the emotions of other people involved. In his view Albert Schweitzer opines that, “Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt. Kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust and hostility to evaporate.” It is therefore pertinent for us to accept the fact that relationship is everything. Moreover, the teaching profession is not well paid in Nigeria and some other parts of the world and like every other parents, the teacher also has needs and personal responsibilities that he or she has abandoned to attend to all her pupils or students.

However, the more you appreciate your child's teacher, the more effective and valuable they become to you and your child. Monetary gifts and little tokens are good ways of appreciations but yours words and actions will go a long way to encourage them. It is also commonly found, that at moments of displeasure, the child is watches how the parent yells at their teachers. This will further dent the relationship between your child and the teacher.

It is worthy to note that our dispositions as parents towards our children’s teachers will determine how our children value their teachers. James Balwin posits that, “Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.”

“I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren't trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.” 
― Umberto Eco, Foucault's Pendulum

Thank you for visiting Olabusola’s Review. Always remember that relationship is everything.

Ref:I like to appreciate Segilola Awolesi for taking time to edit, this article.
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/parenting

http://www.positivityblog.com/relationship-quotes/