QUARANTINE LIFE: SUNDAY THOUGHTS

I understand the sentiment of the post I’ve been seeing, but your commitment as a parent should EXCEED your expectations of teachers, not match it. 

YOU are your child’s first teacher. No one should be a fiercer advocate and promoter of excellence than you. You’re the owner. What you don’t do, is hobble the coaches and the players, and then wonder why you’re losing.

You may not be as knowledgeable of the subject matter as the teacher, but you can certainly do everything you can to make sure your child knows his or her role in the learning process, and respects the adults tasked to help. 

Good teachers will teach in spite of problematic parents and incompetent administrators, but many are getting tired of the lack of support, micromanaging, and politicization of their jobs. 

Some people simply aren’t parenting, they’re hopping on bandwagons, demonstrating their own insecurity, guilt, and ignorance— and their kids are taking notes. The way some parents have been wiling out during this pandemic, over things designed to keep their own children safer, you’d wonder if they like, or care about their kids at all. 

It is fascinating how opportunistic  politicians have convinced parents to advocate for the dumbing down of their children. Children learn what they live. The child who learns how to be manipulative and defiant might feel superior to the teacher for a little while, but will soon find him or herself at an academic disadvantage. 

Never forget: Teachers are not hostages. They don't have to exist in terror. They are not inmates. They can leave the campus AND the profession. Teaching is a calling for many. The teacher HAS earned a diploma and degree(s) and could more likely than not, use them in other, less stressful pursuits. 

It’s going to be a sad day when caring, conscientious teachers decide they’ve had enough.

Resources are everywhere. With the internet, PBS, etc., students today should be geniuses. Prior to the pandemic, everyone was bragging about how computer literate and tech savvy their kids were, and joking how their devices may as well have been appendages. Teachers were considered front-line MVP’s. What happened? 

Everyone else who comes in contact with your child should have to meet your standard not comply with your ignorance. Set a standard, and make sure it’s not based on misinformation, stupidity, denial, lies, and error. Your child is watching.

Charity, rules, and expectations start at home. You can’t get so tired as a parent that you check your brain at the door, and make enemies of the people who seek to educate your child. 

You have one job. Don’t be the reason your child doesn’t learn. Don’t let your own bad experiences with school color your child’s current experience. If you’re going to turn over the education of your child to teachers, don’t envy their competence, let them do their jobs! Don’t make it harder. No one puts up with intimidation, control, or fear from people who only think they have the upper hand. Don’t mess around and find yourself homeschooling. Many apologetic parents admitted, early on in the pandemic, that teaching was NOT their ministry.

Any rhetoric, or anything on your plate that is making you think it’s someone else’s primary job to guide your kid, is one thing too many. Don’t be a bully. Be a cheerleader. Don’t expect anything of others if all you’re doing is fault-finding, criticizing, whining, and complaining. If you haven’t noticed, teachers across the country are exhausted—and many of them are parents, too.