Right:
--When I had a bad junior high math teacher in a stupidly easy class my mother stood up for me and put pressure on the the school.
--When I decided I wanted to apply to college a year early because I'd figure out how to graduate from H.S. a year early, they supported me.
--When we moved cross country in H.S. They flew me out for a week to sample the schools in the districts they were considering buying a house in. And they took my selection seriously, and did end up first renting and then buying in that district. Honestly this was the best thing for me, that year is H.S. was one of the best things that ever happened to me even if I only went there a year.
--I'm not sure if this was something they did or just luck. The area we lived when I was in K-2nd grade had schools who were exploring alternative methods of teaching and I was allowed very individual learning in early elementary. This was also very good for my older brother when he was in K-4th.
--Provided a very enriched home environment. We lived in college towns, had lots of books around, my mother went back to college, we had a computer before almost anyone else and they encouraged us to use it. My dad did lots of things to encourage me in math and science, including having me help take apart and fix lot of electronics.
-- Encouraged me to have fun and explore different things. While in college my parents supported my doing fun extracurricular even if they cost a bit more while in college.
Wrong:
--They didn't seem to do anything to help me with my struggles with spelling and essay writing. My parents are also bad at spelling and it was shrugged off as just the family curse. I was doing better than both my brothers because I was very compliant, so they didn't really see my struggles.
--While my parents backed me up & fought the school about the bad math teacher 7th grade. Otherwise they were very hands off. Paying very little attention to homework, or how I was doing except for grades. Although I think that was more what was expected. Unless things were really bad parents didn't step in. Talking to my mother recently I was surprised they don't remember how awful my older brothers 7th & 8th grade science teacher. Perhaps they never knew, but I remember how this teacher was known for turning a lot of boys off science. (Looking back on it I expected it was an EF issue.)
--My perception was they didn't do enough to help teach me social skills and help me socially. I was the bottom of the pecking order in junior high and I never felt I could talk about this with my parents. It caused me to make some bad decisions in early H.S.. I honestly think they never really knew how bad the situation was and even if they sort-of knew didn't know what do about it. Now that I've been through this as a parents, I can see this isn't an easy "fix".
--My parents insisted that my brother go to university straight out of H.S. when he really wanted to take a year off. (I only found this out as an adult) Basically the said they wouldn't pay for it unless he went right away. Big mistake..
