With a new school year underway, now is a great time to start talking to your child about how important teachers are.

It's also good to talk specifically about how important their own teacher is.

Your child will likely have a teacher for the next 15+ years. They need to learn to value, respect, and listen to the person caring for them throughout the weekdays.

By modelling and teaching them about the value teachers have in society, our children will learn this behaviour and attitude too.

The Wonderful Things About Teachers

Even if conflicts or differences of opinion arise with your child's teacher, it's important to speak respectfully about them in front of your child.

You want to do your best to help your child maintain a positive relationship with their teacher. Remember, this is a person that spends as much or more time with your child.

Here's some amazing things about teachers that you might want to highlight at home:

• They work very hard to prepare and teach lessons, all while managing 20-30 children at ONCE.
• How smart their teacher is - elementary teachers teach ALL subjects (math, history, geography, etc.). Isn’t that incredible?
• Teaching is more than just a job. Teachers typically really like children and have dedicated their lives to caring for and educating young minds. It's easy to forget about the care and support they provide to our children every day.

You can also talk about your own experiences with teachers over the years, like your favourite teachers and what you learned from them.  

Why This Is Important Now More Than Ever...

According to this report from last year, Ontario's core education funding has dropped by $1,500 per student since 2018.

This is a common theme across North America. Our teachers are being asked to do more with less - less materials, less support in the classroom, and less prep time.

They need our allyship now more than ever and an important part of that is fostering trust and respect between families and teachers.