Not allowed to do anything on team

[marshall]

Originally Posted by Toatekua

I was the same. I got my parents to talk to the lead mentor, which helped a lot.

If you feel like you can't talk to one of the mentors directly then this is an option. Just ask your parent(s) to keep in mind that most mentors are volunteering their time and to be respectful. I would suggest talking to the mentors directly first if you feel that you can.

Also, if your team has guidelines or a handbook then it is a good idea to read it and have your parents read it as well.

I say this because just yesterday we had to inform a student that they were not eligible to attend a competition with us because they had not fulfilled their requirements. This lead to a long phone call with an understandably frustrated parent. I was able to talk with the parent about our policies and our handbook, which they hadn't seen, and this made a huge difference and helped to put the parent at ease and the student as well. I'm optimistic that the student will stick around next year and now has a better grasp of time management as well as expectations and communication.

Talk to your mentors. Mentors are people too and some of us are pretty ok.