Get Involved
It is always a good idea to build a positive relationship with your child’s teacher from the beginning. This year, it may be more important than ever. If any portion of your child’s learning is remote, the relationships teachers work so hard to build in-person will be that much harder to develop. And even if your child is in person full-time, they won’t be sitting in intimate book club circles with their teacher. The help they get on their science lab will be from 6 feet away. The authentic relationships that are usually built naturally will take a lot of intentional effort. The best thing you can do to help ensure a positive relationship between your child and his/her teacher is to develop one with the teacher yourself! Reach out early on, offer information about your child that you think might be helpful (needs, interests, quirks, etc.), and most importantly, show them that you are on their side. Offer any kind of help you feel comfortable offering, and show empathy. It is not an easy time to be a teacher.
Monitor screen time
Screen time these days is necessary. And research shows that there is actually an amount of screen-time that is healthier than none at all. But there is also a limit, of course. Especially if your child is fully remote. Then their classes and academic work should be just about the only screen time they are getting (to a reasonable extent). Get creative with enriching the rest of their day with screen-free activities like arts and crafts, cooking, listening to music, writing, and reading (paper books, not digital).
Temper academics
If your children are doing any of their learning from home, they may not be getting the structured, built-in “brain breaks” that invariably come during the school day through snack time, recess, study hall, or whatever else may break up the rigor of your child’s day. Therefore, it’s important to make sure that these necessary breaks are still happening. If your child doesn’t have the planning and self-monitoring skills to give themselves these breaks when needed, give them some suggestions, or plan out their breaks with them.
Check in on Emotions
If your child isn’t the type to readily volunteer emotional check-ins, now is the time to do some probing. Without putting any pressure on your child to share feelings they aren’t ready to share or discuss topics they aren’t comfortable discussing, gently invite them into the conversation. An effective way of doing this might be to start by naming your own emotions, talking about where they might be coming from, and what you can do to address them. This takes the pressure off, and might help them let their guard down a little. It’s a scary time, and none of us have the foresight or tools to know how this school year will pan out. So be patient with yourself and with your child, and take it one day at a time.