Who's the Boss at School?

Getting your little one to take direction at school.

By Jerry Brodlie, M.D.

Who's the Boss?

Q: I have a son in kindergarten and I heard from his teacher that when she scolds him for misbehaving, or tries to get his attention to stop him from acting up, he just totally ignores her. How do I get him to understand that when he is at school his teacher is in charge and he has to listen and respond to her?

A. One of the things might be to have a meeting with the child and the mother and the teacher together, just the three of them without the rest of the class. Also, to have a way of communicating with the teacher so that the mother can in fact give some consequences to the child at home if she hears that he's not listening to the teacher. So the youngster learns that if in fact he doesn't listen to either of the adults, there's going to be a punishment -- at home or school, but that the mother and teacher are a team.