Parents

Parental involvement needs to be an integral part of the school environment and experience

Parents are the primary attachment figure for students. As such, the health of that attachment is critical for school success. Any effort to give healing to hurting children will be thwarted if we ignore this foundational relationship in the child’s developmental journey. Most of the therapies I have listed on this site include the parent, it is time that we include parents in education as well. The Reggio Emilia approach embraces this principle.

Why are parents sometimes ignored?

Parents, especially in this population are overwhelmed, angry, triggered easily, and difficult to work with for the same reasons that their children are. Their "owl brains" (Gobbel, 2022) are offline due to trauma from the past and from the current secondary trauma of raising a difficult child.

Talk to many teachers and they will tell you that dealing with parents is their least favorite part of their job.

This dynamic absolutely must change if we are to make progress!

Parental involvement is important for many reasons

  1. Parent-child attachment is reinforced.

  2. The parent learns parenting skills

  3. The parent learns about mental health

  4. Healthy adult/child ratios are maintained in the classroom at a low cost

  5. A strong community culture is built

The Reggio Emilia approach embraces parents. The environment in a Reggio class is calming for all adults. It is fun and enriching to be in this type of classroom. Can you imagine parents reading fun stories? Because the curriculum is whole language and literature-based, not phonics-based, stories are funny and emotional, not boring (phonics is still used, just not as the base). Can you imagine parents leading a math game or helping kids collaborate on a building project? What about playing outside or in the indoor gym?

Parenting classes are included and are reinforced by volunteerism.

Parents can volunteer in a variety of ways. They can facilitate small group centers of learning, read to children, keep the environment ready for learning, build projects, fundraise, and contribute financially. They serve on advisory boards and contribute valuable feedback about the effectiveness of the school.

With parents in the classroom on a weekly basis, they are also there to be a part of therapy sessions and in group therapeutic interactions. Part of their time in school can be spent reinforcing what is learned in parenting classes and in private counseling.

Barriers to involment

  1. Parent work schedules. Parent work schedules for this population are already disrupted for the high needs of their children. I believe that employers will benefit from the parenting load of their employees being lessened by the consistency of a positive school environment. I hope that they will see that parents can be elsewhere for half a day each week and they will be better employees.

  2. Caring for younger children. I see the school having onsite daycare. Big benefits can come from halving the whole family on site.

  3. Parental attitudes. Parents can be approached in trauma-informed ways. Attitudes can absolutely change as parents are welcomed, and see the benefit to their families.

  4. The management of large numbers of volunteers. Yes, this is big, and systems would need to be built collaboratively, but it is worth it.


Even if volunteering does not work for all parents, it can still be an important investment for some. Flexible policies can be put in place that encourage volunteerism and develop parental ownership of education.