1 Child Help Advices
• Stay involved in your child’s education through middle school and high school. According to a survey in the journal Education, only 50 percent of parents are involved in their child’s schooling when children are 16 or older, as compared to 73 percent of parents when their children are younger. Most parents of high school students said they would like to be more involved in their children’s education and more than half of the students said they would welcome their parents’ involvement—including helping with homework and supporting extracurricular activities, groups, and clubs.
• Stay informed about school. Read the school newsletter, and announcements that come home from teachers and the principal. Stay informed not just about extracurricular activities, but also about academics. Most schools have a back-to-school night, a curriculum night, or other evenings for parents when teachers explain the school’s courses, standardized tests, and other academic issues.
• Memorize the names of all of your child’s teachers so you can talk about school together. If necessary, write down the teachers’ names
and a sentence or two about each of them so you’re able to remember who teaches what. Always attend parent-teacher conferences. The more you know about your child’s schooling, the more helpful you can be.
• Be present at the school. Attend meetings of the parent-teacher organization. Try to attend school events. If you cannot be there for a sports event, play, concert, or other activity your teenager may be involved in, be sure to ask a relative or close friend to attend. Even if your teenager says she wants you to stay out of her social life, she does want you there to cheer her on.
• Remember that it’s never too late to get involved. It’s never too late to join the parent-teacher organization, help out with an activity at school, or become involved in some other way at your teenager’s school.
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