Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/high-maintenance-parents-responding-to-the-parent-who-is-critical-of-her-own-child/5013221/
In the January/February issue of Child Care Information Exchange, Janet Gonzalez-Mena and I wrote about how important it is for staff in child care to create a partnership with parents on behalf of their child. We also acknowledged that this is one of the biggest challenges faced by staff in child care. This is especially true when parents need extra support, demand a lot, or otherwise cause concern. We used the term high-maintenance parents to describe these parents. By using that term, we don't mean to label people or put them in a box, and we don't mean that term to be negative. It's just that some parents challenge us, puzzle us, push our skills and sensitivities to the limit more than others do. What follows is one example of such a parent.Elizabeth always seemed to have something negative to say to or about her four-year-old son Nicholas and hardly ever said anything positive. Sometimes she badgered him: "Stand up straight." "Pick up your feet when you walk." "Slow down." "Speed up." Sometimes she would say to Sarah, Nicholas' teacher: "Nicholas is so lazy. I can't get him out of bed early." Or, "He's so sloppy. He never picks up his ...