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March 9, 2016 By John Adams 7 Comments

Parents’ evening; I think it’s great. Do you?

parent's evening

Who’s the more nervous in this picture; child, parent or teacher?

Where do you stand in the great Parents’ Evening Debate? Do you think they are a waste of time, or do you appreciate them?

I ask because we’ve just had one at my daughter’s school. Personally speaking, I like parents’ evening a lot. Although the consultations are short, you get a few minutes one-on-one with your child’s teacher and can really explore any issues without the usual interruptions when trying to have a chat in the playground.

Every school will handle parents’ evening differently, but I think the level of consultation with mums and dads is far better than when I was a boy. I think it happened once a year when I was in my teens, but I don’t recall there being any parents’ evenings when I was at primary school. By contrast, my eldest daughter’s school holds them at least twice a year and she’s seven years of age.

I think that’s a much better frequency and enables mums and dads to gain a better understanding of the school system and engage with it. I believe this is absolutely vital when the National Curriculum, expected standards and reporting methods seem to change every time the wind changes direction. Seriously, I can’t be the only parent who struggles with what my child is meant to achieve (this week, because it’ll all be different next week).

Back to parents’ evening. It must be very hard for the teachers. I’ve heard of teachers struggling with dis-engaged parents. Some mums and dads I know must be incredibly hard work to deal with (oh come on, we all know parents who are difficult to deal with, right?).

I also wonder who gets more worried about parent’s evening; the children or the parents? Helen has just realised what is discussed at these events and was clearly a little nervous on our return the other day. Before going, however, don’t you have this tiny pang of fear, just in case you’re about to be told you’re kid goes completely off the rails during their phonics or numeracy lessons? No? Oh, just me then.

I’ll also make the one other comment about parent’s evening. I think you see a huge number of dads in attendance. I guess it’s because they often take place later at night, but you see greater engagement from guys at parent’s evening than you do at, say, sport’s day or the Nativity play which usually occur during office hours. For me it makes quite a pleasant change; I find myself in school and not seriously outnumbered by all the mums!

What do you think of parents’ evening? Do you enjoy going along? Do you find it informative? Perhaps you’re a teacher? If so, what’s your experience of it? Please leave a comment below. I’d love to know what your thoughts are about this fear inducing event.

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Filed Under: Family Life & parenting, School Days Tagged With: child, children, dad blogger, daddy blogger, education, families, family, family life, father, fatherhood, learning, lessons, national curriculum, parent consultations, parent's evening, parenting, parents, relationships, school, schooling, stay at home dad, teachers

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. chickenruby says

    March 9, 2016 at 5:12 pm

    I’ll let you know next week, I have my first ever parents evening next week as the teacher, I haven’t been to a parents evening as a parent for too many years now

    Reply
    • John Adams says

      March 11, 2016 at 11:13 am

      Very best of luck with your first parents’ evening as a teacher. I’m sure you’ll be fine!!

      Reply
  2. Jules Pondering Parenthood says

    March 10, 2016 at 8:24 am

    As I teacher, I find it really interesting that you describe it as ‘fear-inducing’. I must admit, As the teacher I do find it a little scary as unfortunately, as you say, there are some hard to deal with parents and some who take the opportunity to be downright personal and nasty.

    Most are fabulous and supportive though, and already know how their child is getting on. That’s because I make an effort to chat to parents regularly and certainly as soon as any issue arises. My motto is, ‘there should be no surprises for the parents at parents’ evening!’

    Reply
    • John Adams says

      March 11, 2016 at 11:10 am

      I like your motto. That’s generally been the case with our daughter’s school. You deserve a medal for dealing with the awkward parents!

      Reply
  3. Sally Akins says

    March 16, 2016 at 10:35 am

    I’ve been to so many parents’ evenings over the years, and I still hate them! Even though my boys never have any real problems to discuss, I always get very nervous. They make me feel like I’m back at school and been called to the headmaster’s office (not that I ever was – I was a good girl!!)

    Reply
  4. Zoe says

    April 13, 2016 at 5:35 pm

    I would love to let you know but we have not had a Parents’ Evening for over two years now. Our daughter is in year 10 at NAME REMOVED BY EDITOR, we have not had a Parents’ Evening since year 8. Our daughter is sitting her mocks this week & sits her science exams in May this year. We have e-mailed her school on several occasions to ask why but have been ignored. We spoke to one of the staff in the office who informed us that the Year 9 Options Evening was a Parents’ Evening which is not true as none of the teachers we saw to discuss what options our daughter might like to take were her current teachers at the time & new nothing about our daughter. Do Secondary Schools not have a duty to have at least one Parents’ Evening per year?

    Reply

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About me

 

I’m John Adams and welcome to my award-winning blog. Since 2011 I’ve been the main carer for my two daughters and run the household while my wife has worked full-time. This blog tells our story. Follow this link to find out more about us.

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Instagram post 2197164680346502651_1418399145 Well this came as a surprise! A local paper put my recent win at the @Vuelio #OIAwards19 on the front page (see my grid for more, it’s all there). The headline of the article was an absolute classic. I just had to share it.

Question is, should I get this printed on a t-shirt???
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#oiawards #oiawards2019 #onlineinfluenceawards #vuelio #vuelioawards #dadoftheyear #newspaper #newsstory #media #mediacoverage #influencer #socialmedia #socialmediainfluencer #influencermarketing #dadbloguk #blogger #dadblogger #ukdadbloggers #video #parenting #family #familytime #dads #dadstagram #igdads #dadtribe #newsheadlines #localnews #localnewspaper
Instagram post 2196515413898489126_1418399145 AD - Helen engrosses herself with a copy of kids’ news magazine @theweekjunior  There was a news story in this edition involving Harry Potter that she was particularly interested in.

As a former journalist, I have always encouraged my kids to show an interest in current affairs. I’m always amazed at the opinions they express and how considered their opinions are. 
If you are still looking for a Christmas gift for a child between the age of eight and fourteen, there’s a special Christmas subscription deal available for The Week Junior. 
Visit the blog and sign up (link in bio) and you will receive 19 issues for the price of 13. 
That aside, do you talk to your kids about current affairs? Do you think it’s a good thing or do you steer away from such discussions?
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#theweekjunior #TheWeek #newsmagazine #currentaffairs #newsmonkey #family #familytime #dadbloguk #parenting #Christmas2019 #Christmasgifts #magazinesubscription #magazinesubscriptions #familylife #parents #newspaper #newsforkids #currentaffairsforkids #pbloggers #blogger #influencer #newstory #worldview #education #educational #learning #Christmasgifts #Christmaspresents #HarryPotter
Instagram post 2194925799735718883_1418399145 Do you spend enough time in the great outdoors?

I’m very big on spending time outside. It’s health benefits are instantly apparent to me but over the past couple of months I’ve let myself down.

I’ve been active, using our gym equipment at home, but I’ve not been getting outside enough. Despite us having had several, glorious, sunny days, family life and work have conspired to keep me at home.

Not getting outside definitely impacts sleep quality and saps energy. I simply knew I wasn’t getting out enough.

Last week I rebelled. I took myself off on Friday to nearby woodland with my camera and did some photography. This is one of the pictures I took. It’s maybe not the best, but is was a lovely, crisp, winter’s day and I think you can see it in this landscape. 
I’ve written more about this aspect of self care on the blog (link in bio) so please have a read. Feel free to also add a comment below, with your own thoughts on spending time outside.
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Instagram post 2194240337224380194_1418399145 How amazing is this? A frozen spider’s when I spotted between a fence post and a tree. It just looks so haunting and I love the detail. It’s so amazingly intricate.

The spider was nowhere to be seen though. Hopefully it was keeping warm elsewhere!
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Instagram post 2193472480144169837_1418399145 If your child is a reluctant reader, don’t panic! It could be that they’re simply not into books. Try magazines, newspapers or websites instead. There’s a good chance that eventually you’ll find something that does inspire them to read.

Don’t take my word for it though, take it from @tompalmerauthor He has, after all, just received the Ruth Rendell Award, a prestigious award given to people who have gone out of their way to promote literacy. 
Tom has written many books for children and often visits schools to talk to the students about his career as a writer. Some of his books are focused on sport, some are focused on history or have a war-theme like Armistice Runner, the book I’m pictured with here. He has also published a range of books for children who struggle with reading to give them confidence.

There’s a full interview with Tom over on Dadbloguk. Link is in the profile.

If you have struggled to get one of your kids to read, how did you deal with it? We’ve had a small issue recently persuading Izzy to read her school books but the solution has been very simple. I take her to the library where she’ll sit and read for ages. She simply doesn’t like being told she’s doing homework so when she has the choice to chose what she reads, she does it.
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Instagram post 2192787570987333777_1418399145 Does the hat suit me? 
After school yesterday, Helen, Izzy and I went to @hever_castle childhood home of Anne Boylen. There’s an ‘Alice in Christmas Wonderland’ walk and this is me, playing the Mad Hatter.

Expect a blog post in a few days time when I’ve edited the photographs. 
That’s the great thing about Hever Castle, even on a damp, dark December evening it is one of the most photogenic places on the planet!
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