The Virginia Department of Education has declared November as Family Involvement Month in Virginia Schools.

Although I like the idea because it comes with the connotation that schools will be hosting activities which entice parents to come and be involved — it also bothers me that the Virginia school system has to declare a month for this.

Shouldn’t parents be involved in their child’s life as much as they can, anyways — especially if their child is in school?

Now I am not a parent, and I know how busy a person’s schedule can be, but taking time to be involved in your child’s school life should be a priority in my opinion.

Those children who have parents who are involved in their school in some way or another tend to not only have better academic success, they also tend to have higher graduation rates and fewer behavior problems.

Everyone wants children to excel, but not everybody does everything they can to help the child in their life do that.

Children need motivation. I know this to be true because I have three nieces and a nephew, and I know that when they’re doing schoolwork, having a program at school or they are being involved in some type of activity, they do way better when they have someone there cheering them on and helping them out.

I was also fortunate enough to have a mom growing up who always did her best to be at almost all school programs, class parties and field trips for my brothers and me; and my Dad always stepped in and gave us a hand when we didn’t know how to build our science projects or we didn’t understand what to study for our upcoming history test. They especially did this during the base of our education when we were in elementary and middle school, and when we were in high school they were both there providing constant encouragement and being involved to ensure that we graduated.

I honestly believe that if my parents hadn’t been so involved in my schooling growing up, I wouldn’t have been as successful in it as I was.

I know everyone in the Western Tidewater Area has the same goal for the school systems: Improvement. They are improving yes, but they could be improving a lot more if more parents would step in and help out and give their children a little bit more encouragement.

There shouldn’t have to be a special month to tell them to do that.

REBECCA CHAPPELL is a staff writer for The Tidewater News. Contact her at 562-3187 or rebecca.chappell@tidewaternews.com.