The Email Every Parent Should Send Their Kid's Teacher in September

Your kid's teacher is looking at 26 faces. Here's how to make sure yours isn't the one they misread.Carol Muleta of The Parenting 411 has raised twin sons who are now 26, and she has a habit most parents never think of: she emailed every teacher at the start of the school year, before there was ever a problem. Not to complain. To introduce herself, say what her child was interested in, and quietly flag what he struggled with.Because a teacher who sees loose papers falling out of a notebook might read that as a kid who doesn't care. A teacher who got a two-line email in September reads it as a kid working on organization, with parents who are paying attention.We got into a lot more than that. What to do when your daughter is dealing with the kind of subtle meanness that never quite rises to something you can report. The exact three-step script Carol taught her sons for standing up for themselves. Why after-school meltdowns happen and what to change about the first twenty minutes at home. And the question I've been wrestling with myself: what do you do when your child is emotionally years ahead of her classmates, and does skipping a grade actually solve it?Carol's answer to that last one surprised me, because she tried it with her own son and it didn't work.CHAPTERS00:00 The email most parents never send01:14 Welcome, Carol01:52 Where confidence actually gets built03:32 Girls can be mean with words04:32 The three-step script for standing up for yourself06:00 When the bullying is an eye roll you can't report07:49 The teenage years and fitting in10:34 Screen time, empathy, and why community matters12:56 How to make the teacher your partner in September14:42 Why they hold it together at school and fall apart at home15:37 Letting them take the armor off17:33 The "I wonder" technique for getting them to open up19:35 What a healthy boundary actually looks like21:52 When your child is more mature than everyone in the room25:11 Skip a grade, switch schools, or homeschool?27:47 Connection before correctionTHREE THINGS TO TRY THIS WEEKSend the September email. Two lines. What your child loves, what they're working on.Ask what they need in the first twenty minutes after school. Snack, yard time, or straight into homework. Let them decide.Swap "how was your day" for "I wonder if you felt left out when they went off to play." It gives them a word for the feeling and lets them correct you.GUEST Carol Muleta, The Parenting 411 WebsiteRELATED Public vs Private School: What Actually Matters When Choosing → LinkShould You Hold Your Child Back Before Kindergarten? → LinkNew video every week on the decisions parents actually have to make. Subscribe if you're making them right now.#parenting #schoolage #parentingtips #raisingkids #socialskills #backtoschool