CONNECTIONS QUARTERLY FALL 2025
WELCOME
SUPPORTING PARENTS & CAREGIVERS
How do we support parents in ways that are meaningful to them? We need to do more than simply have a great speaker present valuable insights which often very few parents come out to see. I would contend that an important first step in supporting parents is to try to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of their stressors. Parents today often have less peer support in their role as parents than earlier generations, they have little to no childhood experience with many of the issues their children are facing today— like the challenges of social media— and they often feel that other parents are doing a better job.
We are quick to tell parents that it is important to let their children fail, but do we give permission for parents to fail? Do we let parents know that they will fail as parents at times, and here is how you learn from that experience and repair relations with children and teachers?
We as educators have an expertise on the child as a student, and an expertise on children of a certain age in general, that allows us often to give good guidance and suggestions to a student. Meanwhile, parents have deep insight into their child; in particular they know all of those events from the past that make up who the child is today. We can support parents by balancing our view of the student with their view of the child.
Parents have a tough job. This edition of Connections provides tools for educators to support parents, especially as we consider their current-day challenges. •
Bob Mattingly, Executive Director of CSEE
CSEE Connections Fall 2025 Page 1