1. Introduction

Education is important since it is the stepping stone towards a student’s future career. In effective schools, parents understand and support the basic mission of the school. They are given the opportunity to play an important role in helping the school achieve its mission (Bago, 2008). In La Salle University, the parents play a significant role in the academic journey of their child. They are partners of the LSU IS in monitoring and assisting the learning of their children. They are required to report to the school in some scheduled activities like card distribution and family day. As Herman and Herman (1998) reported that parents’ involvement in school resulted to less student absenteeism and tardiness; fewer student discipline problems; fewer student dropouts; increase positive school climate; increase in student graduation; and increase in student achievement scores on standardized tests.

The performance of students in school is essential because it describes how they participate in the classroom as summarized in their report cards. The grades are concrete evidences of the learning of the students.

There are factors that affect a student’s performance in school. One of which is the relationship with their parents. Quality time with parents is very important for students since it strengthens the bond of a family. If time spent with parents is disregarded, problems may rise. When there is a problem in the family, certain factors may be affected especially a student’s performance in school. The student might be concerned about the problem that he/she cannot focus in school.

Parents have their ways in treating their children. The manner that they treat their children could be one of the reasons in the way their children perform at school.

2. Review of Related Literature

2.1. Relationship with Parents

The relationship between students and parents is affected by the parenting styles practiced by parents. Baumrind (1966) distinguished parenting styles as identifying one as too hard, one as too soft, and one as just right. After studying how children and parents relate in their home, Baumrind came up with three major parenting styles. The researchers believed that parents’ parenting style is shown on how they relate with their children.

Students study to achieve good grades. When students study, they can perform well in class. They can get good scores or comply the performance tasks. They succeed in the end. Moreover, the students’ relationship with their parents may encourage them to perform well in school. Parents support their children in school as shown in terms of:

(a) time parents spend with their children. According to Parker and Wang (2013), parents who think they spend the right amount of time with their children are about three times as likely as parents stating that they spend little time with their children to say their parenting job is excellent. The time students spend with parents is important because it motivates a student to perform well in school. If the parents spend their time mostly by always concentrating in their work, their children will just have to do things by themselves. They would not want to ask their parents for guidance because they might think that it will add to their parents’ burden.

a. Parents’ Involvement in School

Child Trends (2013) states that students with parents that are involved in their school tend to have better academic performance. These students perform better in school compared to students with parents who are not involved in their school. Students should receive attention and guidance from their parents. Parents should be aware in the activities their children participate in and praise them whenever they earn an achievement for their children’s hard work to be paid off.

(b) Parents’ ways of discipline

Baumrind (1966) came up with three major parenting styles namely, authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative parenting. The authoritarian parent is very strict and expects his/her orders to be obeyed. They show low levels of warmth and responsiveness. It means that they are not attentive to their children’s needs. The permissive parent is not strict at all and does not enforce rules or punishments. Unlike the authoritarian parent, the permissive parent is extremely responsive to the children’s needs. The authoritative parent presents themselves as authority figures. They are loving and caring to their children but they also expect their children to behave.

The parenting style employed by the parents affect their relationship with their children. If parents are too strict or too lax to relate with their children, the performance of children in the school might as well affected. Strict parents may hinder their children to share about their difficulties in school. On the other hand, parents who are too lax may tend to have children who had less care about their schooling. On the other note, involved parents tend to have children who are open about their successes and difficulties in school.

The literature cited emphasized on the roles of parents in the performance of their children. In general, the above-mentioned literature helped the researchers in coming up with the conceptualization of this present study.

Figure 1. Schematic Model of the Study

The study includes the students’ relationship with their parents in terms of time students spend with their parents; parents’ involvement in school; and parents’ ways of discipline. The action plan is based on the findings of the study.

2.2. Statement of the Problem

The purpose of this study is to describe the students’ relationship with their parents in terms of time students spend with their parents; parents’ involvement in school; and parents’ ways of discipline. An action plan will be recommended based on the findings of the study.

More importantly, the study seeks to answer the following research questions:

1. What is the profile of the students’ relationship with their parents in terms of:

1.1 time spent with their children,

1.2 involvement in school, and

1.3 ways of discipline?

2. What action plan maybe proposed based on the findings of the study?

3. Method

This chapter presents the short description of the research design, research locale, sampling technique, the participants, instruments, and statistical treatment.

Descriptive – developmental type of research is used in this study. The descriptive method is specifically employed to determine the profile of students’ relationship with their parents. Developmental research is employed to recommend an action plan addressing the weak areas identified in the study.

The participants of this study were the eighty (80) students from Grade 7 to 10 enrolled in the Academic Year 2016 – 2017 who were selected randomly. Their ages range from 12 to 17 years old.

The researchers-made questionnaire was the main research instrument used to gather the data. The questionnaire was shown to experts for face validity. Suggestions were given to improve the construction of the items per category of the students’ relationship with their parents. The research instrument was used to describe the three categories, namely, time students spend with their parents, parents’ involvement in school, and parents’ ways of discipline. There are ten indicators in each category.

The researchers made use of an interview guide. They interview some junior high school students about the indicators with high and low ratings.

Each item was scaled 1 to 4 with the following verbal descriptions:

The mean scores were interpreted as follows:

Weighted mean was computed to present the profile of the students’ relationship with their parents.

4. Results and Discussions

4.1. Students’ Relationship with Their Parents

The way students perform in school is somehow influenced by their relationship with their parents. The time spent with parents allows the students to discuss the things they do in school. Parents will understand better on how their children perform in school if they set quality time with them. Regular communication between students and their parents allow them both to solve the problems that might affect the schooling of the students.

Table 1 presents profile of the time students spend with their parents.

Table 1. Time Students Spend with their Parents

The data reveal that the parents always spent their time with children when they need to buy materials needed in the performance tasks (3.30). This finding indicates that parents find the importance of providing the instructional materials needed by their children in school. In this case, parents had an idea on projects made by their children. Thus, parents need to be aware on the importance of procuring educational materials to support students’ performance in school.

Parents do not only provide the material things that their children need. The data further reveal that parents also provide motivation (3.04) and advices (3.04) to their children. These traits are very important as the student strives to perform in school. Parents’ motivation and advices boost students’ confidence on their capabilities and allow them to perform better in school.

Among the 10 indicators, students reported that their parents seldom tutoring them when they need help (2.30). This result implies that students also need their parents to spend time with them understanding the lessons in schools if find them difficult. In some cases, students shared that their older siblings tutor them sometimes. Some students also asked the help of their classmates who know the lesson better. In general, the students reported that their parents frequently spent time with them with mean average of 2.84.

Herman and Herman (1998) emphasized that parents’ involvement in school increases student achievement. Henderson and Mapp (2002) reported that parents can promote their children’s academic success by teaching their children the importance of education, finding out what their children are expected to know and to be able to do and reinforcing lessons at home, and sending their children to school ready to learn every day.

Parents’ involvement in school is very significant in monitoring the progress of their children’s performance in school. As shown in the data, the parents frequently get the report card of their children during card distribution (3.20) family day (3.09), attend family days (3.09) and participate in school programs (2.78). The data signify that parents are interested to find the performance of their children in school as evidenced in the grades. Important events in the students’ life like family days and school programs are attended by the parents also. However, students’ rating showed that their parents are seldom involved in school if they have failing grades (2.35), they failed to submit requirements on time (2.35), and when they had activities in school that need their parents’ presence (2.46). These instances where the students need their parents to be fully involved school seemed to be given less importance by the parents. Findings reveal that generally the parents are frequently involved in school. Henderson and Mapp (2002) found that parents involvement in programs improve student achievement. Learning-focused involvement activities may include family nights on math or literacy, family-teacher conferences that involve students, family workshops on planning for college.

Table 2. Parents’ Involvement in School

Discipline is very important for growing adolescents. It is a way to hone the traits of the student to become successful in the future.

The way parents discipline their children can influence their behavior in school. As shown in the data, parents discipline their children when they watch TV or movie all the time (2.81), do not study their lesson (2.75), do Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter all the time, and go home late (2.69). These behaviors of the children are most often the cause of misunderstanding between the parents and children. In effect, when the children are not disciplined in the proper use of gadgets, their studies will be affected. Further, the data reveal that parents seldom discipline their children who are texting all the time (2.66) and when having failing grades (2.40). This finding support to the previous finding that parents are seldom involved in school when their children had failing grade. In this case, if parents are less involved when children had failing grade, they cannot impose discipline. It is also noticed that when parents will not monitor their children’s use of gadget like in texting, there is a greater possibility of failure in their subjects. The parents frequently discipline their children with an grand mean of 2.59.

Table 3. Parents’ Ways of Discipline

As seen in Table 4, the time students spend with their parents ranks first with a mean rating of 2.84. The finding show that children value the time they spent with their parents. They find it meaningful if parents will devote quality time with them. The parents’ involvement in school ranks second with a mean rating of 2.65. The result implies that children treasure the involvement of parents in their activities in school. The parents’ way of discipline is third in the rank having a mean rating of 2.59. Discipline is an important ingredient if parents want their children to succeed in school. Parents’ time, involvement, and discipline mark the wholesome performance of their children in school. Moreover, Henderson and Mapp (2002) emphasized that speaking up for children protects and promotes their success. Children whose parents are advocates for them at school are more confident at school and take on and achieve more. The more families advocate for their children and support their children’s progress, the longer their children stay in school and the better their children do.

Table 4. Overall Students’ Relationship with their Parents

4.2. Action Plan

Action plan is a sequence of steps that must be taken, or activities that must be performed well, for a strategy to succeed. An action plan has three major elements (1) Specific tasks: what will be done and by whom. (2) Time horizon: when will it be done. (3) Resource allocation: what specific funds are available for specific activities (Business Dictionary).

Rationale:

The term parent-child relationship refers to the unique and enduring bond between a caregiver and his or her child. To understand the parent-child relationship, we must look at the ways that parents and children interact with one another physically, emotionally, and socially (Schissel, 2017). This is the reason why researchers are interested to study about parent-child relationship.

The results of the research signify that mass media, parenting involvement of parents and parenting styles affect the relationship of students with their parents. When parents and students share or are interested in the same mass media, it is likely that they will have a common interest to share. Parents involvement in school activities help boost the student’s self-esteem knowing that their parents are supporting them, and finally, parenting styles, contribute to the students’ achievement. The recommended activities are based on the indicators with the lowest mean rating. The activities will be implemented with the concerted efforts of the school administrators, parents’ auxiliary board, student government, and teachers.

A. Time Students Spend with their Parents

Indicator: Parents’ Tutoring their Children

Objective: Parents will provide assistance to their children who need tutoring.

Action Plan: Give seminar to parents on how to tutor their children

B. Parents’ Involvement in school

Indicators: Parents Assisting their Children with failing Grades and Parents Motivating their Children to Pass Requirements on Time

Objective: Parents provide moral support to their children

Action Plan: Give a seminar on parenting skills

C. Parents’ Ways of Disciplining their Children

Indicator: Parents’ Awareness on the Proper Use of Gadgets

Objective: Parents will be informed on the appropriate use of gadgets

Action Plan: Conduct conference with parents on the proper use of gadgets

5. Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations

5.1. Summary

The study aimed to find the effect of relationship of students with their parents to their performance in school. The study involved eighty (80) junior high school students enrolled in the Academic Year 2016 – 2017. Approximately, these students aged 12 to 17 years old. Specifically, the study hoped to describe to profile of the students’ relationship with their parents in terms of time students spent with parents, parents’ involvement in school, parents’ way of discipline and students’ performance in school which is measured through their grades. The descriptive-correlational research method was employed to determine the students’ relationship with their parents and their performance in school.

5.2. Salient Findings

The profile of the students’ relationship with parents showed that:

2.1 Parents always spent their time with children when they need to buy materials needed in the performance tasks (3.30).

2.2 Parents frequently get the report card of their children during card distribution (3.20).

2.3 Parents discipline their children when they watch TV or movie all the time (2.81).

2.4 Time students spend with their parents ranks first with a mean rating of 2.84.

2.5 Parents’ involvement in school ranks second with a mean rating of 2.65.

2.6 Parents’ way of discipline is third in the rank having a mean rating of 2.59.

5.3. Conclusions

Based on the findings, it can be concluded that students value their relationship with their parents. Of the three categories, time students spent with parents had the greatest impact. It can be concluded further that students treasure the time that they are with their parents.

5.4. Recommendations

In the light of the findings and conclusion drawn from the study, the following are recommended:

4.1 Students will be exposed in activities on how to strengthen their relationship with parents like family days.

4.2 Parents will attend school activities/ sessions on how to motivate their children.

4.3 Teachers will conduct consultations with the parents.

4.4 The school will strengthen the activities that involve the parents.