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Walker County: Benefit of being there

By: Chloé Morrison
(Contact)

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Karen Bryson

Making eye contact with a child or talking to him or her while riding in the car sounds easy, but parents should devote more to these simple interactions, educators say.

The Walker County Schools system is participating in the national “Be There” campaign, which encourages parents to actively help their children learn. The campaign kicks off today.

“If you wait until they are grown, it is too late,” said Rachael Eldridge, academic coach at Stone Creek Elementary.

Educators need parents to reinforce the message that learning is meaningful, and it is important to start sending that message at an early age, officials said.

“All signs point to a need for increased parental involvement in each child’s education,” said George Cherry, coordinator of Walker County Schools Parent Involvement Program, in a prepared statement.

Each elementary and middle school in the county has a family involvement coordinator and a parent center to facilitate parent-child interaction and give parents support, officials said.

Parental involvement increases test results and self-esteem and can decrease behavior problems, educators said.

“If they are having problems with their children, this can turn all that around,” said Karen Bryson, family involvement coordinator at Stone Creek Elementary.

“If you show them they are worthy, that builds their self-esteem, which helps us here at school, which helps them when they get to be adolescents and teenagers,” she said.

Many parents in Walker County already take an active role in their child’s life and education, Ms. Eldridge said.

The campaign

According to the campaign’s Web site, “Be There” aims to become comparable to highly visible public service announcements with memorable tag lines, such as, “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk.”

“Be There” is a multimedia, research-based campaign full of tips and strategies to help parents turn ordinary moments into learning opportunities by connecting with their children during daily routines.

“It is nothing hard,” Ms. Bryson said. “It doesn’t cost anything.”

The campaign’s Web site provides resources for parents and tips on how to be more involved.

Help a child with homework, volunteer at their school, eat family dinners together and talk instead of playing video games. Educators said there are many small ways to increase engagement with children and promote learning.

Schools will send home information about the initiative to inform parents on how to help educate their child, and additional information will be available.

putting it into action

Although the campaign touts easy and simple ways to be more involved, there are many obstacles that sometimes make it seem difficult, educators said. Being there takes effort, initiative and discipline, but it is essential to relationships and learning, educators and parents said.

“You have to put forth the effort to have family time around the dinner table, because of everyone’s life schedule,” said Greta Rhyne, parent of two Walker County students.

Ms. Rhyne’s husband works late hours, and sometimes the family waits until 7 p.m. to eat dinner, but she said the time together is important, so it is worth the wait.

“If our week has been really crazy and we can’t do the dinner, we try to do breakfast,” she said.

Jessica Henry, family involvement coordinator for Cherokee Ridge Elementary, also is a parent and said she understands the challenges that come with parenting.

“I find that parents would love to be more involved, but it is difficult to juggle everything,” she said in an e-mail.

The campaign can help parents find ways to connect and be involved without major schedule changes.

“Some kids don’t get eye contact,” Ms. Bryson said. “It is that eye contact. It is listening. It is that praising. It is letting them know that you are there.”

Ms. Rhyne said talking about school in the car is one way to engage, but it often requires telling her children that video games are not allowed while riding.

If a parent feels overwhelmed after work about cooking dinner, instead of cooking alone while the child watches TV, try getting the child to help cook the meal.

Kirsten Rhyne, 11, is in sixth grade at Rossville Middle School and said time with her family is priceless, from evening devotionals to her mother’s help with homework.

Without that connection, Kirsten said she “would feel horrible.”

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