Writing Feature Articles - Step 1 - Lesson 1 | Page 73

Writing Feature Articles - Lesson
Writing Feature Articles - Handout . a

Intermediate

Name: ________________________________________ Date: ___________________

. a: Feature Articles Packet

(page

of

)

“Picking Teachers...” continued
"Parents should worry less about these kinds of decisions," maintains Dr. Paul J. Donahue, a Scarsdale,
N.Y., child psychologist and author of "Parenting Without Fear" (St. Martins, 2007). "Our job as parents
is not to make everything perfect for our kids."
Children learn important life lessons — how to be resilient and adapt to a range of situations — when
required to roll with the punches, Donahue said.
"Our kids are capable and they can cope," he said, adding that in general parents should do less for
their kids to help make them stronger as individuals. While a small percentage of children with special
needs may bene?t from more parental involvement, most kids are bound sometime in life to be in
situations that are less than ideal and "they have to learn to deal with it."
Another important lesson learned when parents step back is respecting boundaries, Donahue said.
"The kids need to see that their parents cooperate in the process," he said. "Parents have to follow the
rules."
‘Who knows the children better than parents?’
Not everyone agrees.
Sheila Carter, principal at William Hatch Elementary School in Oak Park, Ill., said she welcomes
parental input as one of many factors used in trying to create a diverse class with children of mixed
abilities. In fact, she solicits it through a memo circulated toward the close of each school year, when the
next year's classes are formed.
Carter said she draws the line at unreasonable requests. "I've had a parent almost try to make my class
list," Carter said. "Now that's a lot of nerve."
Yet she believes that while she and her teachers do their best to know students and their needs, parents
usually have a far deeper understanding of their children and what factors may help or hinder them in
school.
"I've heard principals say they don't take requests," Carter said. "Well, I think they are making a serious
mistake not listening to parents at all. Who knows the children better than parents?"
Although it's not possible to meet every parental request, giving them credence is also important in
building relationships with parents, an essential component in students' success, she said.
Leaving it to the professionals
There are parents who would rather leave the classroom stuff to the professionals.
Karen White, an Atlanta-area author and mother of two teenagers, said she was so turned off by
© 2010, Teaching Matters, Inc.

www.teachingmatters.org

Page 232