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by Rosemary Lee Potter, Ed.D.

Special to Tropical Breeze

As parents and teachers make their daily rounds they sometimes hear excellent parenting ideas. Fortunately, these positive parenting notions can be shared with others, folks who were just looking for a good idea or two to enhance their parenting plans. Parents often tell me that they can “use all the help they can get!” I believe it. When I was raising twin boys, a suggestion or two were a welcome, fresh notion. So here are three ideas shared recently by successful parents and those who think the care of our younger folks a hugely important task toward our family and community future.

IDEA 1:

Oh, oh! Could it be almost summer again? This is the best, least busy time (no, really! Think about it.) To make the significant plans for what offspring will do in those off-school months. Yes, I know there are students with alternative vacation periods and home-school children with specially designed study-leisure schedules. However, summer is summer. There are few events and plans which happen basically then and only then.

True there are library programs for youngsters — tiniest through teenage — and they are already in place, so we can include READING in summer already. So what’s new? Go do it. Get it on the calendar. For school-aged children and teens there will soon be lists of student choice books to read.

Besides camps and trips and sports team programs, summer is about the best chance for big choices in all levels of swimming instruction. Check with your local pool for time and sign-ups. Call recreation departments. Most communities list their pool numbers. Is your child ready to learn to swim — become water-safe? Is your child ready for advanced lessons on strokes, junior or senior lifesaving? Classes fill up fast. Find out and get on the list for a specific class pronto!

I’ve never heard of a child not ready for initial or more swimming instruction. Able to float? Get to the side of a pool? WAY NOT ENOUGH!

IDEA 2:

It is becoming clearer that many children and teenagers (1.3 million children between 8 and 18) are actually helping their families by giving care to others within their family in their home. This help is a natural and often traditional idea, where students actually care for younger siblings as well as assist in caring for an older, ill, or disabled person in the home, such as a dear grandma with Alzheimer’s Disease, particularly with an activity of daily living like bathing or feeding. (Info: first national survey, Young Caregivers in the U.S., conducted by the National Alliance of Caregiving and the United Hospital Fund {2005}).

While these responsibilities are not at all unusual, nevertheless such help, if on a regular basis, may be posing a burden to a non-complaining young person. It may be affecting his/her school studies, much less restricting many other important age-developmental activities. Children may have come to believe that such duties, even if more suited to adults, are just a regular family life requirement for them. A way to help their parents. As far as they know, most other students not doing this care-giving, thought. Happy children? Do they have a choice?

Parents and others who want to find out more about the state of youth care-giving may contact Jeni L. Coticchio, executive director, Caregivers Support Network, at 727-437-1639 or email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit the website: www.caregiverssupportnetwork.org.

IDEA 3:

While since the shooting tragedy at Columbine High School, technology has logically provided some individual devices we all can use in school — particularly cell phones — to reach help in an emergency and now to check on rides home — it is becoming apparent there’s also a problem. Texting — a thumb-typed quick typing of what I’ll call “Hi and Bye” writing, is becoming a difficult issue at least in school.

Many students are texting constantly and during class from inside a baggy pocket or under their desks in their laps. Of course most of these sessions are inappropriate in class. Those who persist in doing this often find their devices in the school office awaiting parent retrieval.

Here’s what’s worse. Students texting during state testing. A few students actually had their tests invalidated. Yet, while student to student is really an understandable, if not acceptable temptation for student texting — you know — “class boring,” “…did you see…? Probably not even cheating.

Lately, it is apparent that parents are texting students while they are in class or supposedly in class. Positive parenting: Just picture yourself back before these great phones, that is, back in school and being instructed and the old-days phone rings right there in an old-days class and, “Hold the lesson — it’s your mother?” Right! No different — 21st Century. Positive parents do not text a student during class just because now they both can. They consider the learning interruption effect and strongly weigh timing necessity.

If parents really must call a student, most now arrange specific call times both outgoing and receiving any messages from student — unless marked hugely urgent. Timing NOT in class. Something awful? The school will call you. If parents need to call in, they contact the school office for immediate student delivery. Students need to call from the office too — cutting down on unnecessary cell calling to parents. For example, not from the hallway and then late to class.

Positive parents control communication. Positive parents buy the phone, pay the bill, AND set call/text rules.

As always, each source of positive parenting is another opportunity for parents to consider improving their strategies. Just checking out various parenting ideas shows how much your family matters.

Rosemary Lee Potter, Ed.D., has been a teacher since 1960, including 21 years at Safety Harbor Middle School, and is now a reading teacher at Carwise Middle School, Palm Harbor. Contact her at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or by mail in care of Tropical Breeze, P.O. Box 585, Safety Harbor, FL 34695.