An Apple for the Teacher (the Squeaky Wheel)

 After a recent parent teacher interview I was left wondering…am I doing enough for the parent/ teacher relationship?

I thought I was coasting just fine, brief but positive feedback.  Apparently my little tribe are well-mannered, and on track with all that literacy and numeracy jazz. That’s a thumbs up right?

Apparently not says a good friend of mine. She tells me, that in her opinion and experience (as a teacher), it’s as the proverb tells us ‘the squeaky wheel gets the oil’.  In other words, if a parent is more vocal (demands, complains, etc), then their child gets more attention.  I was gob-smacked!  I am allegedly known as a ‘low maintenance parent’. The kind that goes with the flow, does their bit for the rosters (reading, etc)fills out permission slips on time, remembers the library books and most importantly never complains. Ever.

Which is a good thing. Isn’t it?

Apparently not.  What I should be doing is speaking up, raising objections if I think my child is being ‘left out’ or isn’t getting enough attention.  I have to admit, I did a bit of soul-searching after hearing this little gem.  Perhaps I was too agreeable, maybe I could advocate more for my child.  Then I thought some more about it and decided I was happy with my approach.  Lovely husband was happy too.  So if we are happy, my little tribe is happy, and the kids teachers are happy, then is there really a problem?

What do you think?  Is a proactive approach the best approach?  Or do we treat our parent teacher relationships as a partnership?