What is the most difficult conversation you can imagine having? Have you anticipated possible responses – positive and negative?.With children’s short and long-term success as our goal, the stakes are high, opinions may differ, and strong emotions may be present, largely due to our own personal experience, efficacy, and perceptions.
But we also know that there are more complex conversations that need to take place in family-school environments, often putting our family-school engagement at risk. We can begin with global conversations about family-school engagement, ensuring that what we say and do is filtered through that lens. No matter how hard we try as families and schools, there are conversations that are often risky, sometimes when we least expect it. I’m having a hard time trying to determine next steps. She doesn’t feel welcome, she doesn’t feel valued, and we fight to get her to school everyday. The curriculum is modified and the supports are in place, but school continues to be her greatest source of frustration, which is now spilling over into our family life.
Such conversations require both families and schools to step back, tread carefully, and engage in respectful and courageous conversations that always keep the best interests of the child in mind. It could be something simple like the inevitable phone call home about a minor altercation or something more difficult such as discussing a child’s ongoing struggle to keep up with the prescribed curriculum. At some point in a child’s educational career, families and teachers will face a difficult conversation that needs to be handled with respect and integrity.
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