John Cowan - Invest in Teachers

Maybe, if we’d had a few more dollars in the pot, we would have sent our kids to a private school but, quite honestly, our three kids got a fantastic education at our local state schools. There’s lots of things parents can do to help kids have a good school experience but one little tip is to get their teachers on side. 

My wife, Naomi, and I made an effort to get to know our kids’ teachers, and to be helpful and friendly.  We went to every parent-teacher evening,  both of us did volunteering in their classrooms, helping kids with their reading, writing and other things  –  we also helped out on school trips and camps.  I won’t say we did it as a manipulative ploy but, if we were into manipulation, it would be a great technique to get special attention for your kids! It stands to figure that if the teacher likes you, they are hardly likely to neglect your children. Also, if there was ever a problem, we already had great lines of communication with the school – we were able to work together to crack the problem.

All three of our kids went through the same primary school; as our youngest was finishing there we had an afternoon tea at home with all their teachers from over the years. It was great, because they were friends. And I think that those friendships benefitted our kids immeasurably.