As a teacher, there are just some things that I've grown accustomed to when it comes to parents. And then there are things that just blow me away.
Today, on our way to lunch, one of my little potty mouths turned around and let the person behind her have it...to the tune of you mother $@*&^! I was shocked and frankly a little amazed that an eight year old not only knew that phrase, but knew how to use it properly. Well I suppose properly is up for debate, but you know what I mean.
Anyway, this isn't normal behavior for this child so instead of taking her to the office, I decided to handle this in-classroom so to speak. I made her move a clip and took away her recess time. I also let her know that we'd be calling her mom too. Our afternoon was rather busy so I didn't have time to make the call until close to the end of the day.
I called her mom and explained that something had happened today and the child responded in a very inappropriate way. I also said that her daughter would be telling her what exactly she had said. Said child gets on the phone and says the above statement to her mom. Her mom talked to her for a minute and then she handed the phone back to me. At which point my jaw dropped when her mother said, "You called me just because she said..." Well you know what she said but the mom said the actual phrase to me!
I tell you...I would have been mortified...no...terrified to have repeated that to my mom on the phone. And I can guarantee that my mom would have been so embarrassed to have to speak to the teacher after hearing her child said such a thing. Parents just aren't the same today as mine were when I was growing up.
So, that whole little thing made my Monday a little more interesting.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Such Language
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8 comments:
Yep, it is amazing - isn't it? I would have been so embarrassed, but then I would hope that I wouldn't use that language in front of my kids either! We wonder why some kids act like they do...they don't fall far from the tree! But then, I had a similar parent experience last week and I'm still bitter! LOL!
I remember working in the innercity and that language was common.
Parents always make excuses for their kids these days. It really can be sad.
Yup. I had a 1st grader that could cuss enough to make a sailor blush. They ALWAYS excused her behavior (which included spitting, cussing, biting, hitting...) with FAS. Which I call BULL_S***. Yes, there's FAS, but they need structure, not free reign and a life full of people making excuses for them.
Which is why I probably will NOT go back to teaching.
I don't want to have to deal with the aprents who expect me to discipline their child and raise their children for them:
And then get mad at me when I do.
That sounds like a kid my sister (used) to have in after-school care at her job. He's like 6 or so, and he was touching her very inappropriately, all the time. She finally told the mom, who asked him to show her - and he grabbed his mom, right in the bazooms! She "chastised" him, but apparently did nothing. A few days later, he did it to my sister again, and she wrote him up. The mom said she'd ground him the next day - what?
Well, the next day the dad - who is a POLICEMAN - came in and said he was pulling his kid out of the program, because someone had accused the kid of inappropriate behavior and he didn't believe it! Why didn't he just ask his wife what the kid demonstrated on her?
They need to get these kids some serious help before they progress to anything worse!
I get it.....some parents think it's okay to do that, they have NO TIME to be bothered with their children's behavior, because, wait a minute, school is free day care!! How silly of us teachers to forget that there are a few parents that actually think that!!! Oh Steff, so sorry girl. They just don't get it!!
Comes from the parent wanting to be the child's best friend instead of a parent. I remember that I always had somewhat a fear of my parents and would never have repeated anything like that.
Sad isn't it?
Jacquie
My sister learned that word from a Kindergarten student in Philadelphia while she was student teaching there.
Fin
..and there you go. This is what is wrong with the world today. It's parents and adults in children's lives. Kids learn from example. Parents can't be expected to be perfect, but had I been the mom on the receiving end of that phone call, that child would have wished she only had to deal with the teacher!!
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