Absolutely, Heather! Teachers are an important part of your child’s team and they want to be included. Communication is absolutely the key.

Those are all great tips… it never even occurred to me that people would show up for appointments late. They made the appointment for a reason!

A couple of more tips: If you are divorced, please do not degrade your ex with your child’s teacher to show that you are the better parent. I can’t tell you many times, this has happened.

Do not make an end run on your teacher-which is call the principal, school board or other district administrator first before you talk to your kid’s teacher about a problem. If it is something illegal or safety-releated yes but not because little Johnny came home and complained that the teacher made him wear a jacket because it was raining and he said he became anxious or some small issue. Try to work it out first with the teacher.

BE ON TIME for appointments and meetings. I can’t tell you how many parents think that shopping at Wal-mart (This was an excuse that was given to my admin, why a parent was 45 minutes late and then got mad because I waited around and left after 30 minutes since they were a no show and did not call) or not showing up at all.

(I could go on, but I will stop)

Remember that your child’s teacher really wants to help and wants to educate your child. They also want to communicate with you. What is sad is that many parents today think that schools are respite care and that they can just demand anything they want, when they want. You gave great advice.