How Best To Deal With Angry Parents Within The School System

Nothing gets the emotions going more than concerns about one's children. Parents who care, and who have the best of intentions often aim their concern, frustrations and fears at teachers and school principals, and that can be daunting for teachers, since dealing with angry parents is not something that's taught in teacher education programs.

Not to mention the time that's spent dealing with over-wrought parents.

There's a lot of advice available online to help teachers deal with these situations. Unfortunately, much of it is over general and vague. How exactly are you supposed to not take insults from parents personally? How do you keep your cool?

For those of view who prefer quick advice, and short, but often vague tips on the topic, we've pulled together some online resources that offer hints, tips and advice on defusing angry parents.

For those of you who want to learn, in detail, how to defuse angry parents, we recommend getting a copy of Building Bridges Between Home And School: The Educator's/Teacher's Guide To Dealing With Emotional And Upset Parent

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In this section we'll look at some of the advice offered to teachers and schools staff on how to interact with angry parents. Much of it is superficial, but there's some good reminders in these online articles.

How To Defuse Angry Parents For Teachers And Principals: Dealing With Angry Parents

10 Tips to Deal with Difficult Parents Effectively - Teachers.Net Gazette - by Barbara and Sue Gruber
You probably never imagined contending with difficult parents when you dreamed of becoming a teacher. Unfortunately, almost every teacher is faced with an irate parent at some time. Not only is dealing with an angry or unreasonable parent upsetting, it's time consuming. It's only natural for parents to want the best for their child. Every now and then there are parents who refuse to accept that their child struggles in school. It can be easy for them to make excuses and blame others for their child's troubles. Before you know it, you have a huge problem on your hands. Here are some tried and true tips to help you resolve difficult situations with parents. pop (Views So Far 1028 )

18 Surefire Sports Coaching Strategies to Deal with Difficult Parents - by na
More and more school sports coaches are having to do with exceedingly angry parents, and there have been occasions, far too frequent, where school sports coaches have been the victim of parent violence. Here are some preventative and conflict management ideas for the school sports coach. (Views So Far 480 )

Dealing With Angry Parents - by Nancy Jang
Have you ever had to deal with an angry parent? They are yelling, screaming, steaming, verbally attacking you, and you freeze, with a blank look on your face. Is this really happening to me? WHY?? Your instincts might tell you to defend yourself by yelling back, or you might be the one to break down and cry, or even flee the scene.Have you ever had to deal with an angry parent? They are yelling, screaming, steaming, verbally attacking you, and you freeze, with a blank look on your face. Is this really happening to me? WHY?? Your instincts might tell you to defend yourself by yelling back, or you might be the one to break down and cry, or even flee the scene. Here are some DOs and DON'Ts to help you handle the situation with grace and dignity. pop (Views So Far 807 )

Dealing With Difficult And Angry Parents - by Todd Whitaker
A nice 18 page pdf document that provides some specific advice and more. Excerpt: It's important to allow people to let off steam. Everyone feels frustrated at times, and sometimes venting is all it takes for someone to calm down. But sometimes the tirade continues a little too long, becomes too ugly, or turns into a personal attack. In such cases, I have learned a technique that I call the "Please Don't Talk to Me Like That" strategy. If a parent has pushed my tolerance to the limit or if he or she is being inappropriately personal or rude, I respond by saying "Please don't talk to me like that. I will never speak to you like that, and I will never speak to your child like that." This is not a threat or an order. Nobody likes to be told what to do, especially someone who is already angry. Instead, it is a very reasonable and professional request and a promise to treat the parent and the student with respect. Another benefit to this strategy is that it doesn't contain any inflammatory language. I never want to incite an upset person. (Views So Far 635 )

Dealing WIth Oppositional Parents: Roles of the aministrator, teachers, security and support staff - by Todd Farr, Terry Kent, Jeremy Radke, Candy Rodio
Some good stuff here if you can get past the ugly web page formatting.It explains how to use an "interest based model" for communication and interaction with parents, and the different roles of teachers, principals and security personnel. (Views So Far 506 )

DO PARENTS TRY TO BULLY TEACHERS THROUGH CONFRONTATION? - by Jacqueline Evans Johnson
Really fascinating PhD dissertation on the topic. Contains tons of research references, statistics. (Views So Far 518 )

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