by Sarah Rhyan
Last semester, one of my students brought me an all-too-familiar problem. As a leader of her son’s P.T.A. she was frustrated with the low parental turnout at meetings and P.T.A.-sponsored events. She asked what she should do.
I offered the following advice:
When I ran a debate program in the South Bronx, getting parents to visit was the toughest part of my job. One year, I offered $100 worth of office supplies to the debate team that brought the most parents to the program’s annual open house. The winning school enticed two parents to attend. They were the only two that showed up. Over time I learned why parents don’t participate and how nonprofit leaders and volunteers can cope.
Why don’t parents participate?
Over the years, I discovered that well-intentioned parents still miss P.T.A. meetings, open houses, and the like for two reasons. First, parents opt out because they can’t find the time, not because they don’t care. Even non-working parents are balancing doctor visits, house-cleaning, shopping, etc. The particular date or time selected for a meeting might coincide with soccer practice, a visiting aunt, and the like. Today’s parents are busier than ever and they simply cannot attend every event. Second, parents are asked to attend all sorts of meetings, and most of them are a waste of time. Moms, dads, grandparents, and other legal guardians meet with doctors, social workers, pastors, nutritionists, teachers, etc. They show up to these meetings to demonstrate that they care about their kids. Many of these meetings are disorganized, irrelevant, unpleasant, and offer parents little in the way of help. Well-meaning administrators across the public sector organize face-to-face meetings when they’re not really necessary. Parents cannot tell the difference between a legitimate meeting and a waste of time from the flyers brought home by their children.
What can nonprofit leaders and volunteers do in the face of parental absence?
Nonprofit staffers – especially volunteers and unpaid community leaders like my student – can approach the situation using some or all of the following five strategies:
Strategy 1 – Only convene meetings when there is a true need for face-to-face decision-making, etc. For everything else, use e-mail, paper (e.g., take-home handouts), etc.
Strategy 2 – Plan a clear agenda and communicate it with parents well in advance so that they know the topic of the meeting, the goals for the meeting, and why their participation matters.
Strategy 3 – Organize, organize, organize… so that you can run the most efficient meeting possible. A thirty-minute meeting is ideal for busy parents.
Strategy 4 – Schedule the meeting at a time that works for working (and non-working) families (e.g., 4:30pm). If possible, provide an extra benefit such as free dinner. Remember, in the world of busy parenting, a 30-minute meeting accompanied by dinner for the family might actually save time (e.g., no dishes to wash).
Strategy 5 – Be happy with quality, rather than quantity. A dedicated team of 5 parents willing to meet monthly will achieve more for most organizations than a loose grouping of 20 parents willing to meet once a year.
Sarah Rhyan, Ph.D., is from the Department of Communication at The University of Texas at El Paso and is a featured blogger.
