First Day of School

[Cathy McCaughan]

Michael Silence is planning for his daughter's first day of school and wondering if he should walk her to her class. What do you think? Do you walk your children to the classroom? Is this something that should be done for all elementary children? Do teachers make a mental note of which parents are present the first day of school or are parents a distraction? What about middle and high school students? Do you pull up to the curb and pretend you are a limo driver so they aren't embarrassed or do you do something special to stress the importance of the first day to teenagers?

[Kim Carideo]

This is just a personal opinion, but I think it is great to walk children to their classes on the first day of school if they are in elementary school and they want you to come with them. My youngest son did not want me to walk him in to school when he was in elementary school so we compromised and I walked to the classroom by myself 15 minutes later. All of my boys wanted to be dropped off in Middle and High School. Although, most of the time they wanted me at special classroom activities and field trips. I think most teachers like to meet the parents. The only potential disruption might be traffic and parking logistics.

[Bob Hunter]

As a parent - yeah it's fun for you and the kids (if they want you to) but I know for some of the schools it is a nightmare due to traffic and now security issues. Just remember if you do please do not park in the staff parking areas so they can actually get to the classes to be there when your kids arrive (yes it is a problem!).

[Seely Booth]

My child's school has an Open House a night or two before the first day, so parents can meet the teacher and children can find/see the room. My experience at our school is that the teachers and administrators are busy and stressed enough on the first day. They would prefer to get the kids settled and get the day started. If a bunch of parents come in that particular morning, it is hard for the teachers to start the day. In the lower grades, it can actually stress some of the kids more because they don't want the parent to leave. We always do a "dry run" at the Open House w/the kiddo.

And Bob is right. Parking is a nightmare at most schools on the first day. If you do a "dry run" w/ your child, it helps w/traffic for everyone.

[Knox County Teacher]

I think it really depends on the school sometimes. Seely mentioned her child's school having an open house before school started. I worked at a small school that didn't have open house until a few weeks after school started. That first day most parents walked their child to class and that's when we had them write on a piece of paper how their child would get home that day. Very stressful if a child comes in alone without a note saying how they will get home, but that has a chance of happening anyway. I think an open house a couple of days prior would have been better.In regards to how difficult the separation is for small children, it's not that bad. Most kids will get to the door and be excited to find their seats and get on with the day. I did have one student who was walked to class every day for the whole year. The student didn't necessarily need the parent so much as the parent needed to take the student. After I said something about the student needing independence, the parent only walked the student to a few feet before the classroom door - so I didn't see the parent.

[Rebekah Griffin]

I did my internship at a large private academy. My oldest also went there for her kindergarten year . This is how they handled it. When you registered your child, you chose whether they would be car or bus. You could call the office at anytime to change but that made sure everyone knew how the child was getting home. They had open house the Sunday before school started where parents and students could see the classroom, meet the teacher, find their desks, and recieve important information. If the child was a bus child, the parent recieved a tag to pin to the front of the childs outfit for the first week. The tag had what bus they rode on, the child's name, the teachers name and room number clearly printed on it. Teachers aides would meet the buses the first week and walk the line of students to their classroom. I think with the kindergarteners they did this the whole year. They would also walk the kindergarten students back to the bus. If the child was pick up, kindergarten parents had to come to the building where an aide would get the child for the parent. They really didn't have much problems with parents bringing their child to class (especially kindergarteners), but the teacher usually kept the parent from lingering too long (if the parent had any questions or important information they could always tell the teacher...the teacher was available)
What I observed is, usually, it is more for the parents benefit than the child's. And the more to-do a parent makes about the child's first day the harder it is for students to adjust. I personally cannot see any reason to walk your child to class past the 2nd grade. Especially if the school has had open house and the child knows where their classroom is.

[Rebekah Griffin]

Oh, I must add, this school was also color coded to make it easier for the students to find their classroom...seriously, yellow hall, green hall, blue hall, pink hall and so forth. The school also has their own curriculem (which is widely used in Christian school circles) so they could afford this kind of stuff. The teachers aides were usually college students on work assistance or Senior education majors working on their internship.