How To Become A Parent Mentor

Helpful Tips for Working with Parent Mentors

Photo of Kim Chester

As a parent of a child with a inability, Kim Chester knows personally the importance of parents existence actively involved in their children'southward pedagogy. She as well understands that in social club for students to exist successful in school, parents, teachers, and administrators must piece of work together from the fourth dimension the students enter school until the mean solar day they graduate. Every bit a parent mentor for Bartow County Schools, Ms. Chester has worked with teachers, staff, and administrators to integrate family appointment into school and district activities and to build a culture in which family appointment is expected and valued. Based on her experiences as a parent and a parent mentor, she has identified vii practices to support parents, teachers, and administrators in working together. They are listed below:

INCLUDE parent mentors from the beginning. When parent mentors accept the opportunity to work with families early on in a student's schoolhouse years, a truthful partnership and trust can be developed and maintained. Often, teachers invite a parent mentor to assist in hostile situations or in a student'southward last year of loftier schoolhouse. Parent mentors are almost effective when they work to develop strong bonds betwixt family and school from a pupil's early years.
COMMUNICATE skills that are being taught at schoolhouse. Parent mentors have opportunities throughout the twelvemonth to disseminate and reinforce this information to parents in various environments in which the parent and parent mentor collaborate. In many cases, parent mentors can offer parent grooming on HOW to incorporate these critical skills in the habitation and in the community. Many parents do not know inherently how to infuse this information into their daily lives and often demand specific grooming and strategies for doing so. In many cases, parents merely need an opportunity to become aware of these vital strategies.
PARTICIPATE in parent mentor activities. If the parent mentor is offer grooming or sending data that impacts your students, delight accept note. This allows the teachers to exist informed of parent resources or strategies that may positively touch students. By participating in parent mentor activities, educators clearly communicate their desire to work collaboratively with the families which often positively impacts the level of trust parents have in the school arrangement in full general.
ENCOURAGE families to include the parent mentor. This tip can go both ways. Often, a parent has no trust in the school and parent mentors can work to reestablish trust with the school system. In other situations, parents may non see the need to connect to the parent mentor or may misunderstand the purpose of a parent mentor. When trusted educators take the time to explain the purpose and benefits of collaborating with the parent mentor, the team can access more resource and provide a broader base of operations of support for students.
SHARE data with parents. When you receive information and announcements from the parent mentor, please cease and think if that information could exist useful to any of your students. If then, please forrad the data on to the family even if you recollect the family has received the same information. Past receiving it twice, the parent is more likely to respond or utilize the information.
ACKNOWLEDGE the expertise and experiences of the parent mentor. Parent mentors work to remove barriers in an effort to brand the team function more effectively. Barriers betwixt home and schoolhouse occur for many reasons including a lack of trust due to bad school experiences when the parents were children, not feeling valued as a parent, or feeling all alone and isolated from others. Parent mentors offer a unique connection to parent, because Parent Mentors are living the life of a parent with special needs. In add-on, parent mentors are surrounded by other parents who are living it as well. This bond between parents is strong and tin frequently move a barrier that seems immovable.
Broaden your circle of supports. Parent mentors are working with families daily to find resources for families. This creates a web of crucial supports for our families that are vital to students' success. Parent mentors are oftentimes associated with key individuals in family unit service agencies, mental wellness clinics, recreational services, contained living supports, transportation resources, etc. In add-on, parent mentors are often continued to individuals in the customs that might be able to aid in providing internships, employment opportunities or recreational activities.

Parents provide a vital influence on their child's attitude and behavior. Without a parent's back up and active involvement, the team is often incomplete and unproductive. For successful transition to occur, many important decisions must be made in regards to school, work, finances, relationships, etc. When parents, schools, and the customs work together, the educatee is more probable to succeed. Over fourth dimension, the absent, disengaged, or reluctant parent relies on the camaraderie they share with the parent mentor to trust and then become an agile participate in their kid's transition through school and into a successful post-school surround. In the end, the entire team wins as OUR students go productive and contributing members of society.

Kim Chester, Bartow County Parent Mentor

Source: https://parentmentors.org/our-resources/resources-for-teachers/navigate-the-transition-maze-with-a-parent-mentor-on-the-team/