Teachers have any of you had bad PARENTS?

[Bella the Ball 360]

Just wondering b/c by looking at most of the teacher threads on this board I am thinking that there is a world populated by perfect parents who sire perfect children all of whom are incredibly bright and above all truthful. I guess I just want to find this perfect child/ perfect parent Utopia and go teach there. Should I take the second star to the left or follow the yellow brick road?

I know I have had a huge amount of parents that I would not let babysit my dog much less allow them to take care of a child. Oh and please do not think this is parent bashing. Far be it from me to bash parents. I know parents work hard and there are some good ones out there. I mean I really did not want to start a parent bashing thread. It is just that I have this burning question I need answered.

 

[handinpocket]

Just wondering b/c by looking at most of the teacher threads on this board I am thinking that there is a world populated by perfect parents who sire perfect children all of whom are incredibly bright and above all truthful. I guess I just want to find this perfect child/ perfect parent Utopia and go teach there. Should I take the second star to the left or follow the yellow brick road?

I know I have had a huge amount of parents that I would not let babysit my dog much less allow them to take care of a child. Oh and please do not think this is parent bashing. Far be it from me to bash parents. I know parents work hard and there are some good ones out there. I mean I really did not want to start a parent bashing thread. It is just that I have this burning question I need answered.

Oh please, that is exactly what you are doing. I feel sorry for the children you teach if you hold this much animosity towards the parents.

I feel the mods should just close this thread immediately, no good can come of it.

 

[Mermaid02]

Just wondering b/c by looking at most of the teacher threads on this board I am thinking that there is a world populated by perfect parents who sire perfect children all of whom are incredibly bright and above all truthful. I guess I just want to find this perfect child/ perfect parent Utopia and go teach there. Should I take the second star to the left or follow the yellow brick road?

I know I have had a huge amount of parents that I would not let babysit my dog much less allow them to take care of a child. Oh and please do not think this is parent bashing. Far be it from me to bash parents. I know parents work hard and there are some good ones out there. I mean I really did not want to start a parent bashing thread. It is just that I have this burning question I need answered.

The really bad parents are the ones the teacher's never hear from- because they just don't care.

 

[DisneyJen0504]

The really bad parents are the ones the teacher's never hear from- because they just don't care.

As a teacher, I totally agree!

 

[HsvTeacher]

Oh please, that is exactly what you are doing. I feel sorry for the children you teach if you hold this much animosity towards the parents.

I feel the mods should just close this thread immediately, no good can come of it.

In my opinion, this thread is no different than all the teacher-bashing threads that show up on the DIS all the time. The roles are just reversed.

We, as teachers, have to watch our profession being put down all the time, all while under the guise of "venting," and it seems that just about every one of those threads begins with "I don't want to start a teacher-bashing thread, I really don't."

Now, I'm going to step out of this thread because I've had an unusually frustrating day at school today dealing with what else...a parent!

 

[happygirl]

Handinpocket, how is this post any different then the million of teacher/school bashing post?

 

[Coconut36]

Oh please, that is exactly what you are doing. I feel sorry for the children you teach if you hold this much animosity towards the parents.

I feel the mods should just close this thread immediately, no good can come of it.

Oh and good has come of the multipage teacher bashing threads already out there? This is no different than those posts.

 

[olwyngdh]

Until this year, I have always felt like the OP when these threads get going. I have seen one daughter through 12 yrs of school, and am into 4th grade with the second one--this is the very first time I have ever had to deal with a bad teacher. There have been ones that my older daughter didn't like, or didn't get along with, but they were still good teachers that worked their butts off for a mostly thankless job. I think the teacher I have had to deal with this year just needs to retire--she is in her 60s, had surgery over the summer, and just is not up to dealing anymore--the sad part is, my child, as the new one in the school that she didn't know and who had no friends yet, became her victim. I feel terrible by not supporting the teacher, but I haven't had a choice if I don't want my child to be in therapy or a hospital. 9 yr olds shouldn't be throwing up before school because of the stress caused by the teacher. Thankfully, I got her class changed and she only has to deal with this woman for math now, not almost all her classes. It is still rough going though. I miss York County Schools in VA--they were fantastic, as were New Kensington Schools in PA and Anchor Bay Schools in MI. I am hoping the problems we are having here are just because of the one teacher and not endemic of the system. Either way, we are here for 3-5 years until the Army decides we are somewhere else, so we have to make it work somehow.

 

[okeydokey]

Didn't we just do this fairly recently?

 

[daisyduck123]

Yes, I presently have one this year.

But at least one, out of 25 kids, isn't too bad. Now if I had TWO like this, I would not have time for anything/anyone else.

 

[SookieStackhouse]

I don't particularly care for the ones who have called me a "witch"... or something that rhymes with that.

 

[dngnb8]

I wonder, are the bad parents, parents of gifted students....

 

[NMAmy]

You know, I haven't really been reading those threads but if teachers are feeling defensive and bashed on these boards, wouldn't you be better served by starting a thread asking for posters to discuss wonderful teachers they've had over the years? I think everyone knows teachers who have gone above and beyond and inspired us. I think the reason we see a lot of threads about bad teachers is because people are more likely to complain about a problem. Surely, even teachers have had a bad experience with a teacher in their own school years or in their childrens' school. I had amazing teachers and I had some that really sucked.

If you want to feel good, then start a feel good thread. Asking teachers to bash parents just adds to the animosity.

 

[kamik86]

I had a friend that taught high school English. Some of her stories made me glad I never really considered teaching. Like the mom that screamed at her for failing her daughter (note the daughter knew she failed and understood why, she didn't do the work, it was just mom in denial that her kid couldn't have failed.)

As for teachers I had some excellant ones that really went out of their way to help. I had some that would give extra help to those that needed it and make multiple versions of assignments so that the students that excelled could still have a challenge and not be bored.

I also had some really bad ones. Like the poster above many of them were the oldest teachers that seemed like they should have retired years ago, or as in one case was retiring the same year as us. (although for that last one no one disliked her, she was the nicest old lady, and people loved her class because you didn't have to do anything, but she didn't really teach anything. Her class was basically a study hall)

However I'm sure if you take any other group of people, firemen, Americans, doctors, engineers, disboarders... they would all have good and bad people.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Oh please, that is exactly what you are doing. I feel sorry for the children you teach if you hold this much animosity towards the parents.

I feel the mods should just close this thread immediately, no good can come of it.

 

[luvmythree]

Yes and that is the reason I quit teaching. I was so tired of the parents being mad at me because junior didn't bring his homework home, didn't turn it in, lied to them about a book report being due, even though the parents knew it was due because I emailed them a reminder as they asked. I was so tired of not being able to teach due to all of the emails, phone calls and drop in parents thinking I had nothing else to do but listen to them and be their personal secretary.

I miss teaching, I miss the kids, I miss the feeling when a student finally had a breakthrough with something that had been so incredibly hard for them. I do NOT however miss the PC stuff, the parents and the politics.

And I hardly see this as anything different as the 2 teacher threads going on right now on the CB. It just feels very personal when it's you (the general you/parent) being talked about!

 

[dngnb8]

You know, I heard from a friend of a friends, uncles, mothers, sisters, aunts, cousins, neighbors, landlord that teachers were actually genetically related to the Kardashians....

 

[Debbie7452]

I'm not offended by the thread. I thought it might have some interesting and or eyebrow raising stories from teachers. Decent parents should not take it personally hearing things that truly bad parents do. If it makes you feel better to vent then go ahead!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

In my opinion, this thread is no different than all the teacher-bashing threads that show up on the DIS all the time. The roles are just reversed.

We, as teachers, have to watch our profession being put down all the time, all while under the guise of "venting," and it seems that just about every one of those threads begins with "I don't want to start a teacher-bashing thread, I really don't."

Now, I'm going to step out of this thread because I've had an unusually frustrating day at school today dealing with what else...a parent!

Did the OP happen to share the frustration of a recent incident or was she generalizing?

I had assumed she was generalizing since she finds that many of her parents are terrible at parenting. I missed where she was mentioning a specific issue on a specific parent. Her intent was hate filled and behaving like a martyr doesn't make her "justified" in her actions.

This of course is my opinion. It would be helpful on BOTH sides if they recognize that there are indeed people who just do sucky things and that their title should in no way give them a pass.

The way I read the OP's post--doesn't matter if she makes a "mistake". Her job is hard and the parents should just stuff it.

Reminds me of an OB I once had who came across as not liking women as clients. Well--he kind of picked the wrong profession if he felt we were all whiny PITAs that interrupted his tee times.

I won't knock that it is a difficult profession. I have known a few teachers and have heard the red tape stories and difficult parent issues. We all have our anecdotes--but when we paint with broad brushes, it makes us look foolish. I mean-unless the OP works at a school in a horrible area with deadbeat parents...are really a HUGE portion of her parents unworthy of watching her dog? And she isn't bashing? Yeah right!

Perhaps OP should move for "complaints" about anyone who is now or ever was or ever will be a teacher or the profession to be banned. Then it would save her from having to hear that there just might be a teacher out there who actually did something wrong.

 

[torinsmom]

I have one or two that are a little off every year. It is just par for the course, and I count my blessings when it's only one.

This year, we have a child who was hurting other children because they were "bugging" him. He was 5 at the time(is now 6). A 4 year old was singing, so he turned around and hit the little boy in the head hard. This was about 15 minutes after he hit another child for getting too close to him. When the mom got the behavior report, she sent me a nasty email, asking where we were when this happened, and why we didn't stop him from hitting the kids. I reminded her that we have 20 kids and we aren't able to stand behind each child, trying to get a idea of whether they are feeling frustrated or might be about to hit someone and then grab their hand

Then you have the ones who can't say no to their child because they might get upset, so they send their child to school with things like a cell phone and then let us deal with the ensuing tantrum when we have to say no. I would think they would understand it's easier to deal with an upset child when you are one on one with them, than when you have 19 other kids to take care of/teach.

All in all, I tend to have a great group of parents, as well as students. When I have to deal with the "off" ones, I just try to be very positive and not react to their accusations or rants. If all else fails, I ask the principal to have a meeting with the parents and myself to try to resolve whatever the problem is. Despite what some people think about teachers, I NEVER hold a parent's actions against the child. It's not their fault their parent acts that way.