To Be an Advocate for Your Child

What parent hasn’t heard these words? “Be an advocate for your child.” But what does it really mean?

When my 6-year-old started first grade, I kept hearing those words over and over again from parents with children in the public school system.

“Be an advocate for your child.”

And I wondered…what did people really mean when they said that?

Now I know. And I’m here to tell you, this is what it means:

– Talk to your child about his day at school.
– Visit the classroom.
– Ask questions.
– Follow-up.
– If something doesn’t seem quite right to you, talk to the teacher. Talk to other parents. Talk to the principal. Talk to the PTA. Explore the formal complaint process in your school district.
– Follow your gut.
– Use technology to your advantage: ask questions on listservs. Email your questions to other parents. Do research on-line.

By rights, I should have been blogging about gardening again, and sending my post off to my friend Sommer for this month’s Green Moms Carnival. But instead, I was learning what it meant to be an advocate for my child.

What’s been your experience with advocating for your child? Leave a comment and share!

More later –

Lynn

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