I would have a sign up sheet at open house stating that you are in need of parent volunteers. If open house has already passed, I would suggest sending home a flier and/or email providing information with what you need assistance with. Lastly, be sure to check with administration before inviting anyone into your classroom. If you ever end up having a “power struggle”, I would start to say comments similar to, “thank you, but I can take care of that”.

I think one possible solution is to enlist the help of a "homeroom mom." These volunteers are usually hands on within the school and they can offer help when needed. I have experience with these moms who will volunteer to make copies for the teachers and help create bulletin boards. It could be beneficial to send out a sign-up sheet for parents to volunteer within the classroom. This could be asking for help with setting up your room for pizza parties, or for the grown ups to come in and read to the class. I think if you make it known that you're open to grown ups helping in the classroom, those who are willing are going to be available to help most of the time.

As mentioned in other post, having the sign up sheet is an excellent way to acquire volunteers. It would be wise to have the sign up sheet broken down into types of volunteering, some parents are good for reading groups, some for field trips, and others for art projects. It is good to know what interest the parent and what type of activities they would be better suited for. Then throughout the year you can selected different parents so that one does not feel burned out by volunteering. Someone else suggested "room parents", which is beneficial to help organize events and other parent volunteers.

For orientation about the week before school starts, you can address the parents and let them know that if they are interested in volunteering they can send you an email and you will create a schedule.

Power struggles are common and some parents refuse to believe that their child is capable of making mistakes and that they need to learn from their own mistakes in order to grow. Parent volunteers can be helpful but also be wary, sometimes they assume that their help merits special treatment for their student as a result.

I think you should ask parents who are wanting to be really involved. as a parent myself, I believe that parental involvement could be powerful but you have to plan and let the parents know what they will do when they come because it is not good to make them feel ignored by not giving them tasks the time they come.

As others have said, providing a sign up sheet during open house is the best way to recruit parent volunteers. It is important to stress how helpful they are to utilize.