What teachers wish the parents of ‘problem children’ knew

Whether you’re getting calls from the principal or your child is reporting less-than-ideal classroom antics, a few clever strategies for working with teachers – not against them – can make all the difference to a child’s success at school.

When school principal Ryan Martin’s son Charlie got a detention for “just playing football” a couple of years ago, Martin did what he said he never would: he got mad with the teacher.

“I was like, ‘That’s ridiculous, I’m calling the school!’” says Martin, author of new book Little F*ckers: A Book for Parents of Cranky, Crazy, Lazy, Fabulous, Amazing Little Humans.

“I thought, ‘He’s playing competitive sport and the school is restricting the natural instinct to play’.”

But after taking a couple of breaths he reminded himself of what he’d seen hundreds of times throughout his 30-odd years in schools – that a child’s versions of events rarely paints the whole picture, and that approaching a school with curiosity, instead of combat, always achieves better outcomes.

“It turned out he’d been playing too rough. I shouldn’t have fed the fire because going in there blaming and being angry fractures the relationship rather than strengthens it,” he says.

“It helps to go in and say something like, ‘My young fella’s come home upset. Can you tell me a bit about it because I don’t understand what’s occurred?’ Then you can make a proper assessment of whether it was not right.”

Published on The Sydney Morning Herald, click here to read article