Episode Details

I don’t like snowplows.

When I see a snow plow, that means that the roads are snow covered. I don’t like driving on snowy roads, especially because of the hilly terrain where I live. There’s also another reason that I don’t like snow plows. For the 21 years that I was a Head of School, getting our school’s parking lot plowed always seemed to be a recurring source of stress.

There is something that I like even less: “snowplow parenting.”

Snow plow parents constantly try to clear the path for their child and remove every obstacle. I can’t believe that I am saying this, but I actually prefer “the good old days” when we mostly dealt with “helicopter parents.” In my experience, helicopter parents try to micro-manage problems, but snow plow parents try to completely eliminate problems.

On today’s episode of The Private School Leader Podcast, we are going to discuss How To Handle The Concerning Shift From "Helicopter Parenting" To "Snow Plow Parenting" 

I hope that you will listen to the podcast for your weekly dose of motivation, inspiration and PD. Thanks so much for listening and thanks for making a difference!

Mark Minkus

I want to give you a gift to say “thank you” for listening to the podcast. I have created a FREE guide for you called “5 Strategies To Help You Work With Difficult Parents”. We know that working with parents is part of the job and most of our parents are great, but some of them can be very demanding and emotional and difficult. This guide will give you the tools that you need to build better relationships and have better meetings with the difficult parents at your school. Go to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/parents to grab the guide. Thank you again for listening every week!

Do you ever have “Teacher Drama” at your school? Gossip. A teacher coming to you because they can’t get along with another teacher? Well, I am excited to share with you a resource called 5 Strategies To Reduce Teacher Drama At Your School. This is a 9 page pdf that will give you strategies that will help you to actually reduce teacher drama at your school. Go to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/drama to grab your free guide.

I am really excited to share a new resource with you that I created recently. It is called The 6 Keys To Improving Your Relationship With Your Board. The most important relationship in our private schools is the one between the Board and the Head of School and I think that there is always room for improvement. This FREE guide is a 7 page pdf where I give you specific strategies to strengthen your relationships with your board members. So go www.theprivateschoolleader.com/board to grab your free guide!

Being a private school leader is a VERY difficult job. You have to make hundreds of decisions every day, and you have to keep everyone safe, increase enrollment, keep the parents happy, keep the board happy, motivate the teachers, deal with student discipline, beat last year’s test scores and come in under budget.

That can lead to you feeling tired, discouraged and stressed out. I’ve been there. That’s why I created THRIVE Academy

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