Caffeinated Politics

Parents are gearing up to send their children back to school in just a matter of days. Backpacks with school supplies, a new shirt, and fresh jeans. While many school supply stores list what each grade level needs for notebooks and folders, no list is provided for what families need to supply at home to make sure children are ready for class and can thrive in a learning environment.

I offer a few ideas to help make a student’s year productive and meaningful. When implemented, they make parents’ lives easier, too.

1. Kids need to be read to from day one.  Books need to be in the home and used as an everyday item, like a plate or spoon.
2. There is no excuse to miss school except for sickness.
3. Schoolwork is front and center in the evening.
4. You don’t need lots of money to invest in education and our schools. Attending parent/teacher meetings or volunteering at the local school are but two ways to impact a child’s education.
5. From the start, know who your kids interact with and the quality of people they spend time with when the parent is not around.  Alerting them from the start about the quality of friends can be most important.
6. Every day, the family meets for dinner, and no electronic gadgets are allowed at the table.  Talk centers on what happened in the lives of those gathered.  Fostering good communication skills for the whole family is a most undervalued asset in times of turmoil. 
7. Kids do not smoke in the house.
8. No drugs are allowed in the house.
9. No guns or other weapons are allowed in the house.
10. From Day One, expect learning to matter and respect for oneself, teachers, and staff to never falter.
11. No one even hints at dropping out of high school.

Times change, but common sense does not. Parents need to step up their game and help society create the next generation of adults we would want as our neighbors.