Teachers' Pet Peeve

As a parent, I know that we all think our children are perfect little angels, and when they are dropped off at school, church camps, birthday parties, etc., they are always going to represent our family in a fabulous manner.  They are always going to be courteous little darlings saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ with a yes ma’am and a no ma’am added for extra brownie points.  They are all sincere little “Eddie’s” from “Leave it to Beaver,” right?

Come on, now…really?!  Let me break this to you gently.  You’re children all have bratty moments!  Moments that would make you cringe!  What’s more, they don’t always present the facts completely (that’s a sugarcoated way of saying they lie).  Yes, even the ones who have been taught better will lie.  We have attached a nice little word called ‘perception’ to it so that it sounds better, but the bottom line is they will lie in order to put themselves in the best light.

Before jumping to conclusions ask yourself this question:  What possible benefit would this teacher have to gain by doing this to my little Johnny or Susie?  I can tell you that a teacher’s life would be so much easier if they could just give everyone a 100 regardless of the quality or whether or not they even turned in the assignment.

When a parent constantly makes excuses for their children, they are sending that child the message that they aren’t capable of doing what everyone else is doing and that they need special privileges.  You are also taking the child’s ability of problem solving away from them, and the valuable lesson of living with the consequences of their actions.

We all want the best for our children, but sometimes the best things for them are the hardest things for us to do.  In order to raise successful children, we absolutely must let them hurt sometimes.  We must let go of control in order to let them learn how to control and take charge of their own lives.

So, if you don’t want your children still living with you when they are 30 and 40, give their teachers the benefit of the doubt.  Most (99%) of them want the best for all their students.  You don’t get into the business of teaching school unless you really LOVE children.  Even if your child does have a teacher who doesn’t like them (not the norm), they can still learn some valuable lessons about life in that situation too.  Try to look at everything your child experiences as a life lesson and find the value in all of those experiences.

If there ever comes a time when you must schedule the dreaded conference with your child’s teacher, go in open-minded knowing that your child has probably left out some crucial details that would have helped paint a much clearer picture for you.  If you go in on the side of the teacher, you will gain a lot of respect and will get better results with that teacher than if you go in defensively.  You will definitely catch more flies with honey!

Blessings,
Penny