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Home › Articles › Back to School Headquarters › Helping Out During the Junior High Years

Helping Out During the Junior High Years

Getting – and Staying – Involved at Your Child's School

By Sharon Waldrop

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About three decades ago, I was a proud preschool student. I created art that my mother proudly displayed on the refrigerator. ABCs and 123s began to have meaning and a purpose. I traded in the playground tricycle for a two-wheeler with training wheels because I saw my friends take that "big" step in their lives.

These are fond memories. But the fondest memories of my preschool days are the ones in which my mother helped out in my class. I went to a cooperative preschool where the parents were required to assist in class on a rotating schedule. Watching my mother across the room as she prepared the easels for an upcoming painting session was as exciting to me as a day at Disneyland. Nothing in life made me happier.

As the years progressed, my mother continued to play an active role in my school life. No longer required to help out once I began elementary school, she volunteered her time with love and a true desire to be a part of my education outside the home. When I started junior high, there was no longer a need for my mother to prepare easels for painting sessions. However, she volunteered for other projects consistent with the changing needs of my school curriculum. I look back on these wonderful memories now while I stand on the other side of the school yard, knowing that parent participation in the school system makes the school years extra special for children.

Not in Front of my Friends!

My two oldest daughters attend school and I can attest to the fact that as children advance through the school system, parent participation decreases. Several parents of primary grade students volunteer for the position of "room parent." But by sixth grade, teachers are hoping that a parent – any parent – will volunteer. I've seen heads turn and many a gaze shift downward on back-to-school night when a teacher announces an opening for the position of volunteer room parent.


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