A red flag for me is the mom who comes in clipboard in hand and proceeds to "think" she is going to interview me etc. It is important to establish the ground rules for the partnership right at that first interview or it won't work. I don't like being told what to do by anyone and I detest being told how to do it even more. How quickly I can get control of the conversation back is a key issue for me.

Parents that seem to have hangups about certain issues - often it is based on what is in the news or buzz words or fad concepts but it also tells me that maybe these parents can't think for themselves and will be unreasonable to deal with considering I would best describe my methods as "old fashion" but they are the ones that work. Fads come and go and we just plug along and haven't turned out an unsuccessful child yet once they got to school so the methods can't be that bad.

The child can also show me red flags based on their behaviour and how well they are controllable - willing to listen. If parents don't step in I will and tell the child how we do things here and that they need to not be doing what they were doing. If they obey that is good if they challenge it right there a black mark goes beside their name since I don't need kids that are brats before they even start or get older.