being a professional:
Managing ones own personal reactions, likes and dislikes in service
of the work that is to be done
- when parents
make us "wrong"
- when we
feel our competence is being attacked or questioned
- when we
over-identify with children or their situation
parents often
lead with their solution
("My daughter needs more math worksheets!" "I don't want my child
in that group!")
we often enter the
discussion arguing about the merits of that request
or proposed
solution, rather than finding out what the concern is and creating
a more palatable solution together.
remember to come up
for AIR:
Acknowledge
the request/Affirm the concern
Investigate/Inquire
Respond
common denominator:
what is it you and the parent both want?
For the child to be a successful participant, successful member
of the class or activity group, successful member of the camp
community.
feel, felt, found
When parents through you a complaint or are upset, this phrase
helps to take parents where they begin and move them forward.
"I know how you must feel, Mrs. P; many parents have felt the
same way; (I have sometimes felt the same way); but what we have
found is…."
not that but this
(ntbt!)
When parents make a request or demand that you feel you can
not comply with, sometimes saying, "Well, we can't do that, but
how about this?" is a way to move forward while maintaining your
mission or values and yet giving parents something they can feel
good about.
being a resource/source
of knowledge for parents
(knowledgeable about child development and how these issues may
be playing themselves out in school or in the child's behavior)
educating parents
(knowing about "code," which is behavior with a message; knowing
how children learn best or most effectively; knowing appropriate
developmental milestones)
reframing
(acknowledging the positive intent)
finding what the "good reasons" were for behavior and acknowledging
them so as to move forward.
For
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