Incoherent Ramblings

I do love kids. I am a teacher. I love the kids I teach–even the bad ones!  It’s these parents who make me crazy!  My kids have these parents who can’t be bothered to discipline their children.  They talk a big game, but the kids rule their homes.  Kids really do crave structure and discipline.  A lot of my students have NO consequences for poor behavior or school performance.  One of my students was recently sent to foster care because her parents didn’t send her to school.  She is a sweet, smart girl who actually wants to be at school.  These parents have evaded legal proceedings regarding truancy in several other states!  The home visit our social worker and parent liaison went on showed the kids and parents were living in squalor. A LOT of my students are very intelligent, but school is not a priority for them because their parents don’t make it one.  It saddens me to think about what these kids could achieve if they’d drawn a better lot in life.  I know that plenty of people overcome tremendous obstacles to achieve in life.  I am one of them.  I also know how hard life is for kids in today’s society.  They deal with things that I’ll never have to deal with.  It is hard to worry about doing a science project or math homework when you’re wondering where your homeless family is going to spend the night that night. 

Then there are the other parents who want to let their kids “be free” or whatever.  I can not STAND to see kids running around in a restaurant.  It makes me INSANE!  Jill is always afraid that I am going to embarrass her and say something to these people.  It does take all of my self control not to.  Tonight at Moe’s there was a table of four “moms”.  Next to them was the table with 6 kids, sitting alone.  This would be fine, except the oldest one couldn’t have been more than FIVE!!!  HELLO???  The moms were just chatting away not paying a lick of attention.  They were sitting near the door.  It would have been easy for some fucked up pervert to walk out with one.  I had to stop on my way out to let the entire peewee entourage parade by me. I was standing RIGHT BESIDE  the moms’ table.  Not one parent told the kids to sit down, not run around, etc.    If I had EVER acted like that as a child, my gramma would have never taken me out in public again.  She TAUGHT us how we were supposed to behave.   

Gramma always thought I was too hard on my niece, Claire.  She is very willful and hard-headed.  She absolutely needs definite parameters on how she is to behave and what is expected of her.  If I ever do have kids, I know I will be firm with them, but you can be firm and loving.  I think Jill does a great job of this with her daughter.  Her child knows what is expected of her because Jill conveys this to her going into any situation.  I may not have kids, but I do know how children should behave.  I do know that PARENTS should be in charge of CHILDREN and not vice versa.  I do know that children should be taught to be self-sufficient and independent.  There is nothing wrong with chores and responsibility at any age.  

One day, I will snap and tell Muffy to take her kids, Mary Lucas and Timber, and go home until they ALL know how to behave in public!