We just had our meet the teacher night last night and it went really well. Last year..
let's just say I had an "interesting" coversation with a parent. This parent turned out to be a real pill and nearly drove me out of my teaching calling (and yes I do feel teaching is a calling, an honor, a joy, a gift and definately not a right).
I am a preschool teacher in a private Christian school. I teach 3 yr olds and have for the past 10 years.
OK.. picture this.. I am in my classroom surrounded by 11 well behaved, and yes they really were well behaved children and their parents. In walks this mother, father and thier son. The son immediately starts to cause all kinds of trouble. He disrupts the entire room, is rude, loud and blatantly disregards everything his parents, myself, my aide and other parents are telling him.
The mother obviously has no clue on discipline, but she proceeds to drill me on my discipline policy which I happily tell her about. (Hoping she gets a clue)
She then goes on and on about how her just turned 3 yr old son knows all his numbers and letters and shapes, colors on and on and on. So what was *I* going to teach him. I looked her in the eye and said simply "social skills".
Well the next week when school started this genuis of a child could not even hold a crayon correctly much less tell me the letters of the alphabet or count with meaning. By the end of the week the mother was asking me when I would start him reading.
The year went on and this mother did everything she possibly could to cause problems in my classroom and out. She started bad mouthing other children in the classroom during our fall carnival. She dreamt up amazingly horrible stories about another family and proceeded to do everything she could to get that families child moved out of the class. She was clearly delusional and unstable and it came back to slap me in the face.
What did I do to her and her son? I stood there and listened to her nearly daily tirades. I did everything I possibly could to make her happy without being unrealistic or unfair to any of child or family in my classroom. I walked on egg shells around her. I spent a great deal of my time shielding blows she directed at this other family she had issues with. I talked to her. I talked to her husband whom clearly understood where I was coming from and that his wife was having "issues" yet he did nothing about it.
This one woman was so incredibly ugly to me she nearly drove me from doing something that means so much to me. Something that gives me such joy.. something that I pray about daily. Something that I thank God for bringing into my life.
I know this is a VERY extreme case. But just like anyone else needs to vent at times... teachers do too.... and you don't always know what is going on behind the scenes with the other children and families in your childs class. So if you happen to really like your childs teacher.. or if you think your childs teacher is not so happy all the time.... smile at them. Maybe take then a soft drink or a small note telling them you appreciate what they are doing or at least really trying to do for your precious child. Teaching is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life and if it weren't for the encouragement that I have gotten from the rest of the parents in my classroom and from a former students parents (whom I keep in touch with) I would have quit.
Just please remember as parents you have a huge impact on your childs teacher and it doesn't take much to bring a smile to our faces and make the most difficult day melt away by just saying a heartfelt "thanks".
