When Parents and Teachers played a friendly cricket match, it was children who won a memorable academic life

Hyderabad, January 9, 2016: In today’s world, nobody has time for anybody. Life has become mechanical and expectantly routine. Technology has been destroying the quality of human interaction. Face to face communication is taken over by technology. Technology has the power to transform how people learn. But, technology doesn’t do much to improve human relations as much as face to face interaction does.

So organizations keep on coming out with lot of ideas to improve relationships with their stake holders. Especially when school reports are technology driven, where parents get minute to minute daily reports on their devices, obviously there is a less scope of human interaction with school and staff.

That is the catch, Open Minds, wanted to work on. So here was an activity conducted to bond between Teachers and Parents. A friendly cricket match was organized as part of a four day inter-school sports event, Muddy Soles, by Open Minds, a Birla School on this Saturday. The response received was overwhelming. Though they anticipated just one team, with the parents enthusiastically turning out in large numbers, they had to form 6 teams to play against the staff members to accommodate their zeal to play for their children.

There were three parents teams and the other three teams comprised of school teaching staff, support staff, including ayas, drivers and children. The matches were played for seven overs. One over in each side was reserved for women. Finally staff team emerged vectorius. But, the fun was unlimited. With both teams of parents playing against the staff of Open Minds, it was a match to watch out for the excellent competition that the teams put in. Finally the Staff team won.

The initiative meant to be a fun friendly match, was a huge hit with everyone – students, who cheered for all the teams, parents and also the staff.

It is said, the family that plays together is the family that stays together. It helped to develop healthy relationships and cordial atmosphere among them, taking forward, the legacy of Open Minds family that they all share.

Parental involvement in academics and events is part of the culture at Open Minds. Every month there is at least one parent invitee program apart from the regular Parent-Teacher Meets. By doing so, Open Minds aims at not only providing a window to the parents to relish their ward’s academic excellence but also to morally boost our students by preparing them for presentations in front of the elders. OMCL(Open Minds Cricket League), on the other hand, does the job in reverse. Here the parents get an opportunity to show their kids how much they love sports informed Padmaja Penmetsa, Life Coach & Chief People Officer at Open Minds.

The presence of their ward in the audience worked as a booster for the parents as players on the pitch. It was a wonderful opportunity to bond with our childhood which rarely happens in our busy schedule, Padmaja added.

The match was a gritty one. Balls flew and fell all around the ground, cheers echoed as loud as the appeals for run outs. There were tons of edge-of-the-seat moments and delightful live commentary from teachers, students and parents alike, added to the excitement. Lunch was provided at the premise and after a short break, the finals began. For the second consecutive year, OMCL cup went to the OM staff, though our hearts went to the splendid performance and sportsmanship displayed by the parents.

OMCL is Open Mind’s idea of rekindling with childhood.

Another important achievement was that Sporting Parents potentially offer encouragement and support and help to initiate and then sustain a child’s participation in sports.

In today's stressful world sports do immense good to everyone.

Bonding Parents and Teaching staff through a friendly cricket match is an excellent idea. When we first heard about it we jumped at the idea said a parent.

Something unique must happen between us. Especially teacher and parent relationship is normally confined to progress report, child performance, complaints etc. For a change this helps to contribute successfully for the career of the child. Parents are first teachers of the child. That is why friendly sports matches like the one Open Minds organized is laudable said another parent.

A physical instructor at school comments that the Parents can exert a significant influence on their child's participation in sport. Numerous studies report that children who perceive parental interactions will experience more enjoyment in their sporting participation. These representative studies reflect the overall importance of parents in shaping the attitudes and experiences of their children or setting an example.

Parents serve as role models. The behavior and attitude children develop from their parents.. So by engaging parents, they become very supporting parents for the school. It does lot of good remarked Padmaja Penmetsa, Life Coach & Chief People Officer at Open Minds.

Nurturing this important relationship helps encourage classroom success. This bond matters a lot as this helps child feel safe, secure as well as giving them a sense of belongingness.

Surveys after surveys revealed that first teacher connection is an important one for long-term academic achievement.

To encourage a healthy bond throughout the year, treat your child's teacher like a member of the family: Frame a photo of your child with her teacher near other family pictures suggested a parent.

Bonding of Teacher, Student and Parent, creates a winning combination. It will be a win-win for all the stakeholders is what a grandfather feels. A positive parent-teacher relationship helps child feel good about school and be successful in school he said..

A GOOD parent-teacher relationship is important. I feel very strongly about it. It helps me in my learning journey and helps develop a memorable school experience said a student of the school.

How can this bond improve?. Simply by volunteering, says a teacher. Parents much volunteer to help busy teachers, who dont mind some extra help from the parents. Because both teachers and parents work for common good--help child learn.

Let us hope this small initiative of Open Minds spreads and more such bonding happen for better future of the kids.