Parenting for Student Success with Dr. Kimberly Bradley

Show Notes
Student Success Podcast No. 6, Oct 30, 2013

Today’s Guest: Dr. Kimberly Bradley

Dr. Bradley discusses strategies for successful parenting of successful students. Dr. Bradley shares her personal experiences as a parent of three students, as an involved parent in her children’s schools, and her professional advice as an educator.

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Guest Biography:

Dr. Kimberly Bradley proves the old adage that the busier you are the more you get done. With a doctorate in Christian Education, a consulting firm focusing on technical training for industry and government, a pastor husband and three kids, Dr. Bradley served as President of the Parents’ Association of Archbishop Carroll High School.

It all started with one question: “How can I help?” Looking around, she concluded that Archbishop Carroll was much more than “just a school on a hill” — colleges and universities needed to learn more about students graduating from ACHS, and the students, in turn, needed to find out more about the world of higher education. So in 2007, Dr. Bradley was a founding member of a group that established a college fair at Carroll, inviting representatives from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and opening it to all local schools. Two hundred seniors attended. Three years later, the college fair has expanded to include a diversity of national universities, including Harvard, MIT, Dickinson, West VA University, Hood, Mount St. Mary’s and North Carolina A&T. Over 500 students from grades 9-12 attend from throughout the Metro area. Dr. Bradley is not surprised. She says, “Basically, we need to give our kids opportunity and we need to get our students to think about their future now.”

Dr. Bradley believes fervently in what Archbishop Carroll offers students. First is the academic experience. “Dr. Stofa and the educators here believe that the kids they teach can learn and they must be held to a high standard,” she explains. “The academic community at Carroll believes our children can do it, so they do.” Dr. Bradley also believes in the nurturing aspects of the school. “They love our kids, they support our families. They will assist in any way they can. Carroll has created an environment where all kinds of kids can thrive and grow.”

Dr. Bradley and her husband have three students in the Carroll family. Their son Daniel graduated in 2010. Second son Jeremiah graduated in 2011, and daughter Abigail is a member of the Class of 2014.

Topics Discussed

• Congratulations to Abigail for making “Principles list,” the highest honor roll status
  • why?
  • Stays on top of h/w deliberate attention to her studies
• At recent College Fair: students walking around hearing from colleges that demand a certain gpa
  • the limits of the gpa
  • parents always say it, but this is real!
  • Connecting long term goals to short term choices
  • long term rewards parents assisting:
  • taking kids to college fairs
  • Bromley insists that what parents say to kids matters Kids to listen
• Have to prove what you know
  • can’t just get by being smart
  • have to do homework
  • Parents need support
  • Community raises children
• Helecopter parents flying in to save life
• Kim doesn’t do the over attentive mom:
  • the hard lesson child independence
  • don’t’ want 45 year old stay at homes! empower and equip our children to deal with their sistuations
  • Holding one’s own child accountable face your issues even a teacher that doesn’t likey mom won’t always be able to fly in to save you
  • trust but verify
• Holding back letting children learn coping skills on their own
  • Imagining your child in 10-20 years: are you reinforcing that vision?
  • keeping that standard we hold for young children as they grow older
• Relationships with schools and teachers
  • parents seeing themselves as consumers in relationship with schools
  • parents are picky when selecting daycare for young children why not the same concern for K-12 schools?
  • holding schools accountable as consumers partnership in child’s education demand rubrics
• Holding your child accountable
• See Dr. Carson’s book on his mother’s accountability for him growing up
• We have a tendency to protect little kids more than older kids
• “Preparing a child to learn”
  • parent job to prepare a child to learn
  • not to be confused with the child’s job to do the learning
• Teacher responsibility
  • clarify expectations
  • students need to ask questions
  • good teachers want students to succeed
• Parent communication
  • must be positive productive of what children need to be doing, and not excusing
  • parent involvement in communication but leave child to fulfill expectations
• Teachers should not be on trial
  • has seen teachers crying after parent conference: not okay
  • making good on what teachers have to deliver
• Students owning failure: if it is failing to meet expectations
  • some teachers can’t communicate expectations, but students and parents still need to figure that out
  • schools need to hold teachers accountable
  • failure not always the teacher’s or the kid’s fault: can be both, or one or the other
  • parents can advocate on both sides Parents can clarify expectations

Additional Resources and Links

• Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story Dr. Bradley recommends D. Carson’s autobiography for the example of Dr. Carson’s mother’s parenting strategies.

Credits

Host: Michael L. Bromley
Original Music by Christopher Bromley (copyright 2011, 2013)
Background snoring: by Stella
Best Dogs Ever: by Puck & Stella

Here for Puck & Stella slideshow

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