Plenty to chew on in Parents Cafe

LYNN – There is a small room in the Ingalls School where parents gather three mornings a week to talk and drink coffee, and where teachers – even the school?s principal – must be invited in to participate.?We have to ask permission to enter,” said Ingalls program specialist Anthony Frye.The Parents Cafe is a byproduct of a push to make public schools pioneers in involving parents throughout the city in working closely with educators and becoming “first teachers” in their homes.?It?s the first time it has been done in the city,” said Ingalls Principal Irene Cowdell.Engagement programs are underway in Ingalls and eight other schools, and the goal is to extend classroom learning into students? homes.?Research shows that when parents are supporting their children?s success in school, those children are more likely to earn higher grades and test scores,” said School Superintendent Dr. Catherine C. Latham.To make this happen at Ingalls, 32 parents – including 20 Spanish speakers – took a four-week course last fall focusing on how their children learn, how to build “homework-healthy households” and how, said Cowdell, “parents can support at home what is going on in school.”?Parents,” she said, “are the first teachers.”Ingalls parent Paula Crisostomo signed up for the parenting classes and joined in the Parents Cafe conversations to find a way to motivate her children, Anderson and Cindy. Ieda Roblero participated in parental engagement to help daughter, Daniela, 8, improve her reading skills. The classes gave her insights into how children learn to read, but conversations with other parents in the cafe offered her ideas and suggestions for helping her daughter.?I understand how my daughter is learning,” she said.Cowdell said parental engagement “is a chance to listen to parents? voices.” And that opportunity to be heard prompted Stacy Parisi to be one of the first volunteers to help launch parental engagement. She said the fall classes and conversations with other parents made her realize with relief that daughters, Emily, 9, and Gwendolyn, 7, are going to have easy and tough days as young students.?Parenting is hard, but everyone is in the same boat. You?re not alone,” Parisi said.Jillian O?Brien learned through parental engagement to place herself in the role of her child?s boss and then to think about what kind of boss she wanted to be. She also learned how to try different at-home study exercises, including allowing daughter, Abigail, 10 minutes of “free thinking” time during homework sessions.Frye said Ingalls? success in encouraging parents with young children to participate in parental engagement means the program will endure and expand in the school as students advance in grades.Parisi said her daughters enjoy seeing her in their school on days when she spends mornings in the cafe.?They think it is cool I?m going to school,” she said.