When the WHOLE frickin family come to parents evening

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and then discuss the whole family history of who liked what subject or ( more likely) was crap at it, thereby lowering all the aspirations of the kid

FGS - one of you stay at home with the preschoolers, the other one bring a notepad

At least they are turning up OP I would be more worried about the families that don't give a shit.

It's not about two parents. It's about two (or more parents), the 5 year old who keeps interrupting, the 8 year old who keeps kicking my chair, the slightly younger kid with the smug asides to the kid under discussion,the nan who chips in with irrelevances... It's also about it being a high school parents evening, where the space available is 2 metres square in a noisy hall with 2 chairs. Not a whole primary classroom with colouring laid out and interesting displays to look at.

I'm with you op. Far better for everyone including the child if one adult goes and other adults mind the younger ones at home.

Yes, I've always thought that the huge hall with a hundred teachers in it was a pretty useless way of trying to communicate information in a meaningful and confidential way.
Have you ever considered running a creche whilst parents evening is on?
Our HT and DHT used to offer it, and many parents took advantage.

I'd rather they brought everyone together than the poor child I teach this year who was instructed to get two sets of appointments - one for mum, one for dad, and to make sure that there was no chance that either would be on the school site at the same time as the other. That's a lot of pressure to put on a child.

one of us goes... mainly because if every child took 2 parents the school hall would be shoulder to shoulder with a queue to get in the door. I can tell DH what was said, he can tell me.

The kids know we are interested in them because we talk about school and what they are interested in, not because we go sit in a noisy hall for an hour twice a year.

First-time Yr 7 parents are bewildered by the scrum in the hall, having no clue which teachers are which, and thinking they have to see all subject teachers. At subsequent parents evenings we are more chilled, airily dismissing most subjects and focussing on the best/problematic subjects

Younger siblings coming to Parents´ Evening who misbehave and disrupt the conversation are a problem. There are so many parents to see in such little time that we cannot waste time listening to parents disciplining their younger offspring. It enrages the other parents who are waiting and personally I find it quite disrespectful. Similarly parents who think it´s ok to take mobile phone calls or send text messages while talking to me. I understand that they may not have childcare for younger siblings but they should instruct these children to sit quietly reading or drawing and not allow them to whine for attention during what is usually only a 2 or 3 minute conversation.

EvilTwins How sad. We have some of them too.

I wish I had this more often. Far too often I have no parents at all. Once I had a child (Year 8) turn up by himself. I adore interested parents, no matter how many or how weird. Far better that than the other.

And this goes with a disclaimer: I will ALWAYS meet parents or carers who work outside of parents evening if they cannot make it. I can't make my own kids parents evenings because they are nearly always at the same time as mine!

Does your school not monitor who comes to parents evening? how utterly bizarre. in twenty years i have never ever heard of this

What do you mean by monitor?
You have one name on the sign-up sheet, sometimes two, but I've never known a Parents' evening with bouncers to limit numbers.

We have the opposite. Parents almost harassed into coming.

It's 10 minutes, who cares about how many show up? confused
I still don't see the problem. Talk 1:1, talk to a group.
Completely agree. There are two chairs and the rest can stand.
I have had every combination, and to me the saddest is when no-one turns up - recently had the child themselves turn up as her parents were too busy
Cut to the chase - what do they think, what child is doing well, what they could do better... Next!
As a parent, DH and do both try to go to all, and am pleased when my pupils' parents also try...