Whether your child attends day care, school or both, it is important to have a good communication between parents and teachers. Children are best developed when teachers and parents combine knowledge and work together. Both parents and teachers do a better job when they build upon each other’s insights.

The parent-teacher meeting is an essential way of promoting good communication. Open, back and forth communication among parents, caregivers and teachers is important if children’s developmental requirements are to be met. During parents’ teacher meetings, teachers should share children’s strengths, achievements and challenges. At the same time, they should also listen to parents’ input. In fact, the best teachers make use of parent feedback to reflect upon and improve their guidance and teaching skills with children.

You should ask following questions about your child to his/ her teacher.

  • Ask the teacher about child’s strengths in the classroom and in active play.
  • How his/ her time is spent and activities he/she enthusiastically enjoys.
  • Who’s your child’s friend with whom he/she plays with and what social skills needs to be developed to enhance peer friendships and relationships with adults.
  • Ask about your child’s frustration tolerance and emotional maturity.
  • How does your child manage to handle everyday regarding mistakes, accidents, or conflicts?
  • Ask the teacher about the status and pace of your child’s development including intellectual, social, emotional, physical, and ethical/moral growth.
  • Try to get information about ways your child is very skilled with or finds challenging?
  • Ask for signs of problems, such as in hearing or vision, such as does he/she ignores questions, squints or holds books very close to the face?
  • Ask the teacher, if your child is able to follow directions, concentrate and cooperate?
  • Discuss about attendance concerns or long term late coming.
  • Ask for recommendations for helping your child at home, such as in development for pre-schoolers or homework for school-agers.

Source:

Stephens K. Make the Most of Parent-Teacher Conferences[Internet]. Available at: https://www.childcareexchange.com/library_pe/5217002.pdf. Accessed on Feb 24, 2020