Guidelines for Parents

[GreyingJay]

Some good points were made already - I think the key is to establish the relationship as early as possible so you, and they, know what to expect.

The parent who makes T-shirts needs to understand the structure of the team in terms of who runs branding and marketing, how to follow the branding guidelines, who gets to make the designs (students?) and of course, how the team budget works! Otherwise they might expect to get "well, thanks for these shirts, but since they don't conform to our team branding, weren't designed/agreed upon by the students, and weren't budgeted for by the team, we can't pay you back and we can't guarantee that they'll be worn".

The parent who shows up at competition and demands changes, could be given a chat about how build season works - when is the time to be brainstorming or suggesting major changes, why such changes could be warranted (or not) in light of robot and game rules, team skill, budget, etc., and how such changes are decided and/or voted on.

We had a parent enthusiastically make suggestions to the drive team about what strategies they should employ - not realizing that (a) their ideas would violate key Stronghold game rules, and (b) that ideas about strategy, coming from anybody, need to go through the drive coach. Next year we will try to point parents to the rules earlier so that they can provide their feedback earlier on, when there's still time to act on suggestions.

Parents love their kids and want what's best for them. Sometimes they get wrapped up in the excitement. We've all seen it, many of us have been there ourselves. The key is to harness that energy We have some very supportive parents on our team - several brought the students' entire families to join us on competition day, and they brought all kinds of things to wear in our team colors. Another set of parents made a huge set of team numbers and signs to hold up in the stands. That was a real treat for the drive team to see!

One of our team awards is called the "Booster Award" and is the award given to the most enthusiastic and supportive parents.