In the modern age of two- income households, it is sometimes difficult to keep up with all the demands being made on your time. One of the most important things as a parent that you should find time for is involvement in your child's school Studies have shown that children whose parents are involved do better academically that those whose parents are not. This involvement is easy to do and does not require a large amount of time.

One of the easiest ways to stay involved with your child's school is to attend all parent and teacher conferences. This enables you to establish open communication with the instructor and enables her to make you aware of any difficulties that your child may be having. Most of these conferences last about fifteen minutes and are scheduled either during the day or in the evening to accommodate the different work schedules that the parent may have. If you are unable to attend the regularly scheduled conferences, most schools will accommodate you and will schedule your meeting with the teacher on another day or at another time.

If a face-to-face meeting not possible, you can also have a meeting over the telephone or via e-mail. Many teachers today include the school phone numbers in the papers that they send home during the first few weeks of school. While some may ask that you a call them at the school during regular school hours, many instructors include their personal e-mail addresses and home telephone numbers and encourage you to call at any time. It is as important to the teacher as it is to you to keep open and constant communication, especially if a child has academic or behavioral problems.

Attending school activities is also an important way to stay involved with your child's school. Most of these are held in the evenings or on weekends and can include such things as a concert or a family fun night. By accompanying your child to these activities or attending a concert in which your child is performing is a good way to demonstrate to him that you are supportive of him and his school.

For parents who work the afternoon or evening shift, it may not be possible to attend these functions. Another option for you would be to volunteer in your child's classroom for a day. With the larger size of your child's classes, most teachers welcome any extra help they can get during regular school hours to complete small tasks in the classroom, such as preparing materials for an art project or copying handouts that they may need later in the day. Many teachers will send home a calendar at the beginning of each month so that you can mark the days and the times that you are available to volunteer. You may not need to volunteer all day. Just a few hours will be much appreciated. Younger children especially will be thrilled that you are spending time with them in their classroom.

Communication between you and your child's teacher whether it is physically or over the telephone is an important step to ensuring your child's academic success. Stay involved and it will pay off in the end.