[JamesCH95]

Outwardly, it would be helpful to remind parents that they are representing your team at competition, that they hold your team's reputation in their hands when they don a team shirt (so to speak). We had a parent from another team start cussing out our drive team in the pits after they lost to our alliance in eliminations. Someone's grandmother was not proud at all that day. I am assuming that this person was not a registered mentor at least, because I've never seen a mentor act in such a way.

Inwardly, having a parent liaison was one of the best things we ever setup. We took a volunteer parent from a veteran student to act as a guide for parents of all of the newer students. They knew what all of the new parents' questions were, and advised them on what to expect and how they could help the team. We had no surprised parents and no conflicts this year. I would highly recommend this structure to other teams.