Linda Pearson's hilarious novel, I Don't Know How She Does It, begins with a mum tearing open a packet of expensive fruit pies from a luxury food "purveyor" and then proceeding to mangle them with a rolling pin.

In the wee hours of the morning, she's desperately trying to make the pastries look homemade, for her daughter's class party in a few hours' time.

It's actually quite a novel solution for a dilemma we all can relate to as parents - trying to be involved in your children's school life, while juggling a million other commitments.

No doubt about it, finding time is tough. Those parents who do seem to get permission notes back on time, books covered, volunteer to coach the soccer team and whip up blueberry friands for the class cake stall will, with a patient smile, tell you: "It's a matter of making time." (Sigh).

The bad news is - they're right. If you don't intentionally plan out the time to get involved in your child's school life and learning, it's virtually impossible to magically find it in the course of a crazy week.

But the good news is there are lots of ways you can get involved and some seriously good reasons why you'd want to.

Your child will learn more
Queensland University of Technology's, Donna Berthelsen and Sue Walker found in their research that parental involvement made a "significant contribution to language and literacy outcomes, numeracy and mathematical thinking outcomes and approaches to learning outcomes". In short, the kids did better at school.

It has also been proven that parent involvement leads to higher rates of children finishing  school and greater enrolment in tertiary education.

Some US studies even claim that a parent's involvement in their child's learning is the biggest factor influencing the child's academic outcome. Now while that possibility could be almost as terrifying as it is encouraging, it does make you realise that no effort you make is wasted.

Your child will be happier
When parents are involved in school life, it leads to a happy and well-adjusted child, who has positive relationships with teachers and peers. If you find you need to have a tricky conversation with another parent or a teacher later in the year, it feels easier when you've already met them over a grape juice and a cheese platter.

Your child will be better able to handle what life throws at them
The current psychological thinking is that resilience is the ability to bounce back from disappointments and traumas in life. There is a body of research that shows that a sense of belonging to a community is one of the most significant things that helps children become resilient. Children are more resilient when they feel they are a valuable part of the community in general, and especially in their school community. It sure helps our resilience too if we feel we are supported in the community.

Parent participation takes many forms, from helping to Google information for assignments, breakfast-time spelling quizzes and racing across town hunting for long, black pants for the school music festival in the middle of summer, when of course, long, black pants are out of stock.

Then there are the other things that connect us to the school community and benefit our children; canteen duty, turning sausages at the barbecue, helping out with class reading groups, sewing costumes for school plays, getting involved in fundraisers, volunteering to go on the class excursion - the list goes on.

The more activities schools offer our children, the more opportunities there are for parents to get involved - even if it's only sticking on sequins, or making sandwiches once or twice a year.

Invitations to help out with older students might be less forthcoming as older kids become more independent and want more privacy.

Just as you once hid the vegies in the spag bol sauce, you may need to now think laterally about how to stay involved.  Janice Vaughan, whose three daughters all went to Orange High School found her niche was helping to organise the senior dance. "After meetings with Year 12 for the dance my girls would say they were proud of me and that I'd done a great job."
 
Denise King, principal of Tottenham Central School in western NSW, says that regardless of whether your children are in high school or kindy, parents should never be afraid to ask teachers how they can be involved. "In the rush of school life, we may forget to ask, and parents forget to offer. You are an important part of the school and an extremely valuable resource to teachers and students," Denise said.

Of course you can't guarantee anything, but as a parent, you are the most influential factor in how your child views school and the community they're part of. You can be aware that open communication, shared interests and your involvement with their learning will go a long way towards helping your child be a capable, resilient and happy adult.

And of course, you can often find perfectly acceptable fruit pies at all-night petrol stations, ready-mangled.