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nope, just one of us

I always went to my conference with both of my parents. If they didn't want me present for all or part of it, there was usually someplace for me to sit and wait for them to finish.

@mrbee: Perfect!

@Anagram: as a teacher do you think the child should be present? Its not an option for DS since he is in K this year but for grades 1-6 it is - thoughts?

@Mamaof2: my old school would usually have the student present, my current school doesn't allow it. I guess I see pros and cons for each. Again, I'm in middle school and the parent conferences tend to focus on kids who haven't turned in a bunch of homework, or who are failing every test.... so it's different.

Pros are that you can get the student and parent together so there's no "telephone", because kiddos have a tendency of lying to their parents (like, "my teacher never gave me the homework!") and the teacher can show the parents with the student present where they write the homework each day, and you can make a plan of action all together and get everyone on board. Cons to having the student there are that I guess some conferences could devolve to a "he said-she said" argument of student vs. teacher (I've never had a conference like that, but I hear stories). And it's a con that sometimes it might be a psychological blow for a child to hear say, 5 teachers all at once talk about all the work they are missing, how behind they are, etc. Kids being kids, they tend to come away from those meetings just feelings like teachers hate them--which isn't the case.