Parents as Their Child’s First Teacher
Note: Guest bloggers, Janis Baron, Founder and Board President, and Ali Barekat, Executive Director of Sunday Friends (www.SundayFriends.org) in San Jose, California, contributed to the first of this two-part series.
Many parents feel overwhelmed and unqualified in how they can adequately support their children in their personal and academic growth as their first teachers. The Sunday Friends agency supports families who have not been actively involved in their children’s schools in a Sunday morning curricular program. [Read more…]
Mary Ann Burke, Ed.D., Digital Education Expert, is a substitute distance learning teacher for Oak Grove School District in San Jose, California and the author of STUDENT-ENGAGED ASSESSMENT: Strategies to Empower All Learners (Rowman & Littlefield: 2020). Dr. Burke creates digital language arts and substitute teaching K – 12 activities for teachers and parents. She is the Cofounder of the Genparenting.com blog. Burke is the former Director II of Categorical & Special Projects for the Santa Clara County Office of Education that supports 31 school districts serving 272,321 students in Santa Clara County. She is also a previous Director – State & Federal Compliance for Oakland Unified School District, the former Director – Grantwriter for the Compton Unified School District, and was the initial VISTA Director for the Community Partnership Coalition in southern California. Much of her work focuses on creating innovative digital trainings and partnership programs for teachers and families to support students’ learning. These programs were featured as a best practice at a National Title I Conference, California’s Title I Conferences, AERA Conferences, an ASCD Conference, the NASSP Conference, and statewide educator conferences.
Back in the 1980’s I learned about “I Messages”. I was taught that when communicating with someone about something that bothers us, instead of laying blame, it was more effective to speak about how it made us feel. So instead of saying, “You are always so rude to me!” 
Frustrated parents tell me they have little time to have long meaningful conversations with their children. There is work in and out of the home. Children have activities they must complete each day. We all lead very busy lives.
It is exciting to be partnered with my blog sisters, and to have the opportunity to reach out to you through this, our second blog. I am the mother of five wonderful adult children, plus a cherished niece, who joined our household when she was in high school. I am also proud to be the grandmother of three fascinating grandchildren, a twelve year old granddaughter, nine year old twins (a boy and a girl), plus a beautiful six year old grandnephew. I have the great fortune to be able to spend time with my four young ones on a regular basis. At this time in my life, I have a unique opportunity to watch my grandchildren grow and develop. I see the affect my parenting has had on the kinds of parents my children have become. 
Two primary themes were shared by readers this past week. When considering random acts of kindness, validated parents felt more confident in their parenting roles. Parents also stated that they felt a sense of pride when others commented about how cute their child was or how cooperative their child was when socializing in public. Parents also confirmed that they felt overwhelmed when their child misbehaved in public. Due to the demands of managing a home and working outside the home, most parents have little time to reflect on life and the daily challenges of raising their children.