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PTA leader touts
By Crystal Kua
using time with kids
Star-BulletinWHEN Cara Lockett's sons were in high school, she used to turn the radio to the national news each morning while her boys were eating breakfast.
"Then I would say, 'Tell me how what you just heard on the news relates to social studies,' " she said. "One day it turned out that they were doing stuff (in school) that was very much related to the news, so it became our morning tradition."
In her own little way, Lockett was finding out what her sons were learning in class while taking a few minutes at home to strengthen that knowledge.
As a woman who can be described as the ultimate PTA mom, Lockett's message to other parents is simple: You're probably more involved in your child's education than you realize, so don't feel guilty.
Cara Lockett
DIRECTOR, NATIONAL PTA'S REGION 7
"Rather than feel guilty for what they're not doing,
I try to get them to start feeling wonderful about
what they are doing, and recognizing that they
really are doing good stuff."
"Every parent I know feels guilty for not being able to do even more," Lockett said. "So rather than feel guilty for what they're not doing, I try to get them to start feeling wonderful about what they are doing, and recognizing that they really are doing good stuff."
Lockett is director of the National PTA's Region 7, which includes Hawaii, Alaska, Washington state, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. It's the national group's largest geographical region.
As PTA membership is growing in Hawaii and nationwide, Lockett is here to conduct leadership workshops for PTA members and to visit schools and parent organizations statewide.
She'll also be talking to groups about the national PTA's parent involvement program, which gives parents and teachers the skills they need to work together, and emphasizes the benefits to children.
"I hear all the time from young teachers how terrifying it is when they first encounter that first parent," she said. "That doesn't set them up for success in building a positive interaction with those parents, nor have we taught parents how to have a good effective relationship with the teacher."
Parents also need to be aware that it only takes about 15 minutes a day to make a measurable difference in their child's school performance.
"Parents have far more time with their kids than they realize," she said. "While the kid is eating that bowl of cereal and you're in the kitchen with them, it's time and it can be used -- that time in the car on the way to school, or on the way to soccer."
The main concern she's heard from parents in Hawaii so far is about playground equipment.
Although she doesn't downplay its significance, she said parents should be paying just as much attention to other issues, such as standards-based education and accountability.
They should have educators cut through the jargon, ask pointed questions and expect concrete answers.
"For a parent, accountability means my kid graduates from high school and could go on to either a job or to the next level of education," she said. "That's ultimately what it comes down to. We define it rather simply."
