Schooling should be a good time for children. Whether it incorporates building strong study habits or them taking an interest in offered extracurricular activities, it’s usually the goal to optimize their journey as students. However, what’s also important and may help achieve this goal is positive relationships between parents and teachers. Having these primary adult figures in their lives get along as well as trust each other can impact their overall experience at school. If you’re a parent or teacher who has been thinking about these relationships and contemplating the best practices on how to foster them, here are some tips:

Make The Most of Parent-Teacher Conferences

Many are aware that parent-teacher conferences normally take place early on during the school year. This one-on-one meeting remains a great opportunity to lay the foundation for a good relationship. As it encompasses teachers explaining a student/child’s progress and how well they have been fairing in their class, parents should not only listen carefully but further clearly indicate that they are, while exhibiting how all the information given is being taken to heart. When providing these updates, teachers doing so in an honest and considerate way would be an ideal practice.

Be Approachable and Keep An Open Mind

If either the parent or teacher would like to raise a concern that they have, open-mindedness and feeling comfortable approaching one another about it is key. Though this depends on your unique circumstances, acting defensive/aggressively could generally create tension, hinder necessary progress from happening as well as make the child feel uneasy should they be within earshot. If a conflict does occur, a helpful de-escalation tactic is pausing and taking a moment to acknowledge how both sides remain on the same page in terms of wanting what’s best for the child, then proceeding from there.

This approachability additionally applies to occasions including field trips involving parent-volunteers or other crucial events that require parents and teachers to engage in longer-term collaborations such as setting up grade 7 (or whichever grade your elementary school concludes with) graduation celebrations and Sports Days.

Establish and Respect Boundaries

Boundaries must be established for the health of parent-teacher relationships. Without a doubt, it’s imperative not to overstep. Examples of overstepping include giving unsolicited advice and asking personal questions. It’s reasonable for most situations that parents should not expect to have any authority over how a classroom is run nor should teachers expect to have a say in what parenting decisions are/will be made. On the whole, consistently remaining conscious of these boundaries and respecting each other in this regard is essential.

Healthy, parent-teacher relationships can positively affect a child’s experience while going through school. From practices like making a good impression during parent-teacher conferences and maintaining approachability, to truly understanding as well as respecting boundaries, these undertakings can all contribute to an optimistic situation where this is concerned. If you take every piece of advice above into consideration, you’re well on your way to successfully carrying out the best practices for parent-teacher relationships.