Teachers may be your child’s bosses in the classroom, but they are not the enemy!

Encourage your child to support his teachers when disruptions occur in the classroom, to help them when they need help, to volunteer when they ask for volunteers. These activities will go a long way toward building rapport with a teacher, and you’d be surprised at how far rapport can help down the road.

Most teachers love the subjects they’re teaching, and can’t really understand why students don’t feel the same. So, explain to your child that he should show some respect for the subject being taught and the teacher teaching it. He might even spend a few minutes with his teachers after class to discuss some particular “area of interest” or something he read about in the newspaper or on line.

You’d be surprised at how far some mutual respect can take you in the classroom.