PARENT PARTICIPATION REQUIRED
This Is Not a Drop-Off Program
We will not babysit your kids. Period.
Let’s be direct.
An FTC team is not a daycare, an after-school program, or a free six-month summer camp. It is a competitive engineering team that lives or dies on the time and energy people put into it. Teams where parents drop off and disappear lose. Teams where parents are involved win awards and go to State. We choose to win.
What We Expect From Parents
Every parent is expected to contribute. There are plenty of ways to do that — pick whatever fits your time and your skills, but pick something.
OPTION 1
Help your own kid through the learning paths
Java. CAD. 3D printing. The engineering notebook. Judging prep. You don’t have to know the material yourself — you have to keep them in the chair. Sit next to them. Ask them what they learned. Watch when they’re stuck. Make sure they finish what they started.
If you can spell-check a paragraph and ask “did you finish?”, you are qualified for this role.
OPTION 2
Take on a Right Brain role
Website building, graphic design, social media, sponsor outreach, finance, travel logistics. Many of these roles are a perfect fit for a parent — they can be done from home, they don’t require knowing how to wire a motor, and they’re the work that wins judged awards. See our team roles post for the full list.
If you have a job, hobby, or skill, the team probably needs it.
OPTION 3
Show up
Even just being present at meetings to support, drive, problem-solve, or chaperone counts. The team needs adults in the room. It needs people who can drive students home if a meeting runs late. It needs someone who can run to Walmart for a missing screw. It needs eyes and hands. It needs you.
“I’m here and I’m willing” is a complete sentence.
What We Expect From Students
Every student on the team will be required to sign a behavior and expectations contract. Standard stuff:
None of this is surprising. None of it is unreasonable. We put it in writing so there is no confusion if it ever needs to be enforced.
One Exception
Older students who have completed all of the technical learning paths and have demonstrated they are high contributors and will be cooperative and non-disruptive may be allowed to participate without a parent present, on a case-by-case basis.
That is a privilege earned, not assumed.
Why we’re so direct about this
FTC teams are small. Ours has limited mentor capacity, limited build-space time, and a season that runs from September through January. Every hour we spend supervising kids whose parents disappeared is an hour we can’t spend coaching engineering, prepping for judges, or running outreach events. It’s not fair to the students whose parents did show up, and it’s not how a winning team operates.
FIRST also requires every adult around the team to complete Youth Protection Program training and a background check. We can’t take responsibility for safeguarding kids whose families aren’t part of the team in any other way.
ONE MORE THING
If you really do want to babysit…
… we’d be happy to drop our kids off at your house anytime.
Ready to pick your contribution?
Coming to a meeting is the easiest place to start. We’ll talk through what fits.