Moving to the “burbs” is the modern version of getting a brand new Cadillac, it is your gesture to the world that you have arrived.  It is the ultimate goal in our community. I’m not making this up, just turn on your news, read your newspaper or better yet, even Google it. You will find many stories of inner-city parents cutting corners and breaking laws to get their children into suburban schools. While their reasoning is understandable their actions are wrong, the issue of whether or not they have done anything to improve the lot of their children is questionable.  For those who decide to use appropriate methods to live in the ‘burbs and get their children into those better school districts, the road does not end at closing on that new home or signing the lease at that new apartment.

So, what to do once the family has moved into the ‘burbs? Generally speaking the culture of the people in this area is likely to be different than that of the family moving in. We all know of or have heard a good part of the differences between many suburban and urban families. Some of these differences are necessary to ensure the success of the child. It is more involved than dropping your child off at the nearest school then returning to your typical routine. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.

More involvement in the child’s education is required. It does not mean that everyone must join the P.T.A, throw bake sales or attend every athletic or academic extracurricular event in order for their children to become successful. However, parental support helps the children become more likely to succeed. There are a different set of values and different expectations required to be successful.  Kesha Smith can move into the Hamptons because she won the Megamillions lottory but if Kesha does not know how to manage her money and is unable to adapt certain values or behaviors that will enable her to maintain her new lifestyle she will lose it.

The same applies to children’s education. It requires more than a change of address and school in order to raise successful children. Are they seeing first hand the results of hard work, persistence and follow through? Have they learned the value of the effort they put into something directly relates to the results they receive? It doesn’t stop there. More parenting needs to take place.  The parents have the responsibility of making sure that their children make use of the resources that are available to them. They also need to spend more time looking for resources that their children may benefit from whether it is a tutor, a scholarship or various programs that help the student excel in life skills and experiences.

If the parents do not lead the children in result oriented changes, then they will likely not improve their chances of success by much unless the child was already a student likely to achieve those results prior to the relocation.