Parents Building Community

Arriving at school one day, a girl pointed to another child and told her mother, “She’s a baby. She doesn’t know how to talk.” The mom, who had been rushing to work, stopped, looked gently in her daughter’s eyes, and said, “She’s not a baby. She’s a big girl like you. She speaks another language, Russian. Her family is from Russia. Why don’t you ask her to play?”

In taking time to correct her daughter’s misperception of a child who was at risk of being left out, this mom was helping to build community. In that brief interaction, she was promoting a sense of inclusion in her child’s class and by extension the whole school.

Children look to adults as role models for how to be in the world socially. When parents communicate the importance of actively trying to understand others and make everyone feel like they belong, it sets the tone for approaching others with openness and kindness.

One aspect of the Meher Schools’ mission has always been creating a compassionate community where families care about each other’s children, fostering a sense of “our children” and “our families,” a net of caring that seeks to embrace all our children and families. At the end of our school year, when we mark children’s growth and accomplishments through graduation parties, we can also celebrate ways we have moved forward as a community and reflect on ways we would like to do more.

Classroom communities

In summer, classes get reconfigured in preschool and Summer Fun, and children have the opportunity to make new friendships. This is also a time of welcoming new families. Many new students start in summer, when classes are smaller and there are more opportunities to get to know each other. It’s wonderful when parents introduce themselves to new families and arrange for fun get-togethers at the park or even on the big playground on weekends. Summer is also a great time for parents to reach out to a family they haven’t gotten to know in their child’s class and make new connections.

Parent communities

On the adult level of community, there have been exciting collaborative achievements this year to celebrate. We invite you to think about ways you might like to meet others and share ideas and create new projects in the coming year. Here are two groups that plan fun activities:

The Parent Corral, which meets monthly, is a welcoming group of parents from every grade level who donate time to make life at The Meher Schools more mutually cohesive and supportive.

This year the Corral created a network of room parents throughout the school to support teachers and facilitate community feeling within the classroom. Thank you to all the wonderful room parents. Members of the Corral organized our two school dances, hosted a wildly successful fundraising event, and brought treats for the teachers to the staff room every week. Their efforts lifted everyone. A huge thanks to those innovative, convivial Parent Corral volunteers. If you’d like to join them, please let us know on the Parent Participation Form.

The Diversity, Inclusion, Equity & Belonging Committee expanded their activities this year to include early-evening gatherings where parents and teachers could join together to discuss lively topics on a variety of subjects.

The group hosted speakers and an expert panel on wide-ranging subjects like handling trauma and learning about indigenous people who lived in this area. Some meetings included dinner as well as a forum for group discussion. During the school year, the DEIB group hosts a monthly Zoom session. Contact Warren Wallace to learn about meetings and offer ideas for DEIB activities.

Every year new and continuing parents bring fresh inspiration to the important process of building community through welcoming, inclusive interactions and through projects that help people get to know each other. If you have ideas for activities or projects you would like to see in the coming year, email Susie Kohl.