Mandatory parent meeting. Seriously, it's worked wonders for 1923.
If you want to be on the team, you (the student) and at least one parent/guardian has to show up to our Parents' meeting.
At this meeting, we hand out a copy of the team handbook. Then we walk through:
- What FIRST is, Gracious Professionalism, etc.
- The programs we do (FLL/FTC mentoring, outreach, FRC)
- Events and travel plans for the school year
- Team rules & regulations, including behavior expectations
- Schedule for shop & safety training days
- Roles for parents, siblings, and other family supporters
Then we make sure that each parent/kid combo signs the last page of the handbook, and gives it in.
Without that meeting, and the signed page, you're not on the team.
(Obviously, accommodations are made for people who can't make it, we'll work one on one with families who can't schedule it in, etc)
The most important part of that meeting for us is letting the parents know that
we do need and welcome their help. Since we don't build in the school, we need parent chaperones to man the front door of our build site, bring food for meals during build, chaperone the buses, etc.
It sounds harsh on paper, but we also state that if your student wants to travel with the team (we're in the Mid-Atlantic Region, so none of the districts are actually close to us - all our events require bus & hotel), a parent MUST sign up for some sort of helper-slot in our calendar, at least once. Bringing dinner, running front-door check-in... something. Two hours of your parent's time, or a little bit of $ to help feed the kids at the build site. We also have a 'parent steering committee' for those who opt to be more highly involved, that helps organize this effort.
Parents warm up to this pretty quickly - and we always make sure that parents know they are invited to ALL our events. Whether they come on the bus or drive on their own, parents are welcome to sit with the team and help cheer us on. Once they're at one event? They're hooked, just like the kids are. Our parent committee is bigger than our student leaders committee at this point!
It took quite a while to get to this point, but now that we're here we couldn't see our team running any other way. Parents are a great source of energy for our team. We love our MidKnight Moms & Dads! (and grandparents, and aunts and uncles, and siblings... well, you get it.)