ORLANDO, Fla. – A licensed mental health counselor joined Breakfast with Bridgett on Tuesday to talk more about how supporting our students through parental involvement in their schools can get positive results all year.
Dr. Treshonda Baucom of Enriched Life Counseling and Consulting shared the positive aspects of parents sharing time, talent and resources in their kids’ schools as much as they can.
“Personal involvement has many positive benefits for children, academically, behaviorally, socially, emotionally, and overall development. There’s many positive benefits to being involved in your child’s education,” Baucom said.
Baucom said even though parents’ availability may vary, everyone can find something to contribute.
As examples, Baucom cited volunteering professional expertise or donating resources to the school based on your work background as career-specific ways to serve your child’s school. Other recommendations included volunteering in the classroom or school events, regularly checking in with teachers, counselors and the school administration about their needs, making sure you are registered ahead of time so that you’re pre-qualified to volunteer when opportunities come up, serving on school boards and committees, and donating money or items on teacher wish lists.
Baucom says it’s a supportive boost when kids see their family members serve in the school.
“It helps with their confidence; it helps with their self-esteem. We find children whose parents are more involved, there’s more resilience, so children they’re able to handle changes better, they’re able to handle some of those changes and transitions better. And especially when we talk about back to school, there’s a lot of tears, a lot of anxiety, it’s that social emotional component the entire school year,” Baucom said.
Find out more by watching the full interview at the top of this story.
For more resources, go to https://enrichedlifecounseling.com/