Opinion: Parents need to be No. 1 teacher in child’s life
By Vicki Barber
This week I was talking with a parent of two children, ages 2 and 2. Both she and her husband work full time outside of the home. Busy as they are, they have made it a normal, natural part of their routine to build in time to work in their children’s preschool classrooms. Whether it is washing the tables, cutting out letters to put on the bulletin board, playing games, singing songs or telling stories, they have decided this is an important contribution they are able to make to their children’s preschool experience.
By elementary school, we often see the engagement dwindle. Parents begin to see their role more as coach for T-ball, and less as teachers. Although the schoolwork becomes increasingly challenging, it continues to be important for parents to stay connected with the school, continuing to build the important partnership that is developing.
Vicki Barber
Our schools definitely see the value of keeping parents engaged. With class sizes rising, it’s becoming more and more difficult to provide the one-on-one learning opportunity that is so important for so many of our students. Students need the practice of reading aloud or memorizing the multiplication tables. Who better to support the practice of learning than a parent at home or a parent volunteer in the classroom?
The current budget situation has definitely given us lemons. It isn’t what we expected or what we wanted, but it is what we have for right now. How can we make the
best of what is?
My suggestion is to continue to stay connected with your children while at home and make every possible effort to partner with their school, offering your time and talent in whatever way you feel most comfortable. Together, we absolutely can make the very best lemonade ever created.
Vicki Barber is superintendent of El Dorado County Office of Education.
Glad someone else finally said what we already knew.
Turn off the TV with sex slaves,the video games with killing they do, the bullying the little weak kids eating their candy,teach them something real.
Easy to say, hard to do, unless you work for some gov. agency in so. lake tahoe, ca.
Some parents do it anyway, and kudos to them.
If you are a parent, education should have always been a top concern. I raised my kids as a single parent but still made sure I stayed connected to all school work and spent many hours helping with homework. I now have 2 college graduates and 1 almost there! It was a team effort between my kids, their good friends, teachers and myself.
You don’t have to be rich or have a cushy job to make it work. If you want to see your kids succeed it must start at home.