Contributed by Haley Burress
It really does take a village to raise a child. Hopefully you have a village full of grandparents, aunts, uncles, best friends, and neighbors that are available to help you out with parenting advice and assistance. Unfortunately, a health crisis can cause you to seek out a village to help fill in for your role as chauffeur to extracurricular activities, head chef in the kitchen, homework helper extraordinaire, and the many other roles that you take on when you become a Mom or Dad. Sometimes you simply need to rely on parents helping parents and ask for help in a somewhat unlikely place: your child’s classroom.
Think about it. Your child’s teacher is very much a part of your village, as are the other students in the class. Surely a majority of the adults have a parents helping parents mentality, especially if there is a health or medical crisis. However, it can seem awkward for another mom to call you to see if you need dinner or for you to ask another dad to take your child to basketball. However, a Lotsa Helping Hands Community Care Calendar can take away a lot of that awkwardness and just get everyone focused on helping you keep your children’s schedule as normal as possible. Using a Care Calendar in a classroom setting has plenty of benefits for everyone involved. Parents helping parents has never been so easy or rewarding!
Your kids learn the importance of community and build new relationships.
If medical appointments keep you away from taking your son to basketball practice, your Lotsa Helping Hands Community can rally behind you. If another parent takes up the responsibility of shuttling your son to basketball practice, your son gets a front row seat to watching parents helping parents. Your child also gets the opportunity to interact with different people and build relationships which could lead to some meaningful conversations that shape him in this tough time.
Classmates and parents get to show kindness in action.
A medical crisis can be scary for you and your family, but it can also be confusing and scary for your child’s classmates. Kids in your child’s class will want to help, so use a care calendar to show them that they can do so much more than sending a get well card. Watching parents helping parents picking up some duties like cooking or driving can show kids what kindness looks like in action. This can no doubt make for more empathetic and helpful kiddos.
It shows your children that vulnerability does not mean weakness.
No matter your child’s age, you want them to know that it is okay to ask for help. However, parents might not always model this same behavior. However, asking for help via care calendar can show children that it is okay to ask for help even as an adult.
Now that you see just a few benefits of sharing your care calendar with your child’s classroom, here are just a few tips to get you started.
- Make sure the teacher is informed and on board.
- Give the teacher permission to give out your Lotsa Helping Hands Community ID to parents who ask.
- If a parent you are unfamiliar with offers help, invite them over for a quick coffee date or chat with them on the phone. You definitely want to know who is driving your child to basketball practice, so don’t be afraid to make that call. You might just end up with a wonderful new friendship.
- Don’t tolerate gossip. Enlist the help of your calendar coordinators or other trusted friends to contact anyone who might be giving out more information about your situation than you are comfortable with.