Uneducated Parent

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Home : 2002 : December : 8

Uneducated Parent
By RossH

The parent that you are dealing with [might have] had trouble while she herself was in school. She may have been from an abusive home herself and one of the only coping mechanisms she knows how to use is to put stressful
situations back on anyone except herself. When she put this stress on someone else it is because that is the way she has handle situations of this nature for probably quite a while. Emotional maturity for this individual may be something that may not happen for a long time. Your concern should be to involve the parent in as many programs as she is able to particpate in with "ground rules"

such as no negative talk about instruction without suggestions. Keep an open mind about her suggestions and compliment her on the good ones and on the bad ones remind her that they must be of benefit to all if they are shared out loud. Most parents do not like this 'shared' teaching approach. It usually weeds out the 'talkers' from the 'doers'. Keep as many parents involved in your classroom as possible. The time invested in balancing emotions and instruction is well worth it! -Don't worry! Lazy parents don't usually want to work very hard! If she's too lazy to make her daughter's meetings on time, she won't last more than a couple of days in the classroom anyway. If she does you have more help and can possbly educate her and be educated more yourself in this wonderful, underpaid, underespected...That's not the reason we got into this profession! Right? Keep the focus always on the kids and let all the parents see that!