In today's episode, Caroline forgot to change the mic settings so only she can be clearly heard. 

And, once again, Caroline takes the conversation sideways as she debriefs about her earlier conversation with one of her kids' teachers. Nonetheless, the conversation ends up getting to key takeaways we can think about as we support our children and teens on the academic journey.

At the end of the day, no matter what kind of teacher our child has, it is important we take the steps to build the parent-teacher relationship as much as we can, whether our children are in grade 1 or grade 11. Coming in with fists swinging will never get anyone anywhere. Showing respect while maintaining an open, collaborative stance is critical.

We can also help our children build key skills themselves. They all need to learn to advocate for themselves and ask for help - this skill is essential to promote their academic success. They also need to build their tolerance for uncomfortable feelings that come with advocating for themselves and having difficult conversations.   And, of course, our children need to learn to problem-solve tricky situations themselves before we come swooping in.

Caroline ends with a very important point that she hopes all parents hear.

If you'd like more ideas about building the relationship with teachers, see Caroline's blog post on this topic. (Although the focus of the article is debriefing a child's diagnosis of ADHD to the school, there are relationship-building points that are applicable to all). 

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