This picture made the math teacher in me laugh. I'm sure it makes English teachers cringe. And no, it has nothing to do with this post.
I am around kids all of the time. I also happen to be a people watcher so I am very observant when it comes to my students and other kids in the school. Over the last five years I have walked the halls in three different schools numerous times. I notice now the same things I used to notice when I too was a student. These observations have led me to form a few thoughts that I would like to share with all of you parents out there. Consider them words of advice if you will.
1. Do not let your child go to school wearing pants that look more like capris. When the child grows out of them - get him some new pants!
2. Look at your child in the morning. Don't let him come to school with his hair looking like he just got electrocuted. Comb it for crying out loud!
3. Make sure he doesn't have toothpaste on his mouth - but do make sure he brushes his teeth.
4. Encourage him to have some sort of order in his life so that he doesn't lose his homework and other necessary items for school.
5. Don't constantly entertain your kids. It's OKAY if they don't watch movies in the car, have a million video games and their own computer. In fact, you will be doing his future teachers a gigantic favor if you instill in him the discipline to do things that he doesn't like, things that don't entertain him.
6. School can't always be fun - it has to be good old fashioned work at times. If you don't teach your child to work he'll drive his teachers crazy and he won't reach his full potential. If he doesn't work at home, or isn't expected to, he will struggle with putting forth his best effort at school.
7. Hold your child accountable for his behavior. Your child will reach your expectations - regardless of what they are - so set them high. The easiest thing to do is give in, but that is not in the best interest of your son or daughter.
8. Don't always go to bat for your kid. Let him fight his own battles. This will instill character.
9. Don't be so quick to medicate your kids for their behavioral problems. A little discipline and training can take the place of a lot of ritalin in this country.
10. Teach your child some basic manners that many have neglected: respond when someone is speaking to you, make eye contact during conversation, don't interrupt, and chew with your mouth closed.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Take it From a Teacher
Posted by Kelly Glupker at 9:57 AM
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7 comments:
1-10 perfectly said !! couldnt agree more :)
LOVE this post-- it's either the teacher in me, the mom in me, or the daughter who was raised properly and thinks that these things SHOULD be common sense! Thanks again Kelly for a post worth reading!:)
nicki
Very funny and very true Kel. And I agree, these things seem to be common sense to me. I will try to remember them when my kids are older though. Thanks for the cute post.
I agree with you on all of these but now that I'm a parent, I think some of these will be harder to accomplish than others! For example, I understand now how difficult it is to get a child ready to keep her clean! It's harder than you might think. And now that I'm a mom, I think I'll always go to bat for my children - when they're in the wrong, that will mean ensuring that they receive appropriate discipline and following through with apologies/asking forgiveness of wronged parties. I consider that going to bat for them because disciplining them biblically and properly is truly and completely loving them. I believe strongly in upholding the teacher's authority in the classroom. The teacher is God's steward of my child for 7 hours and I will be certain to communicate clearly with him/her. That is if we decide to send our kids to school; we're leaning towards homeschooling.
Btw, very funny picture. My husband, the English teacher, didn't notice the spelling mistake! He's had a long day though. :)
Kelly, You were on a roll. You could have typed out numbers 11-20! We are dealing with a couple of these with Garrett being in K-5! (mostly dealing with his teacher) Thanks for the reminder. Being an educator, I know all of these "rules", but then my mom instincts kick in and I want to fix everything now without him being hurt. There are somethings that he will have to learn the hard way. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
AMY
hi kelly,
i enjoyed your post.
the first point made me laugh about the capri pants! tonight at church, preston peed all over his undies, pants, and sox, so we had to borrow pants from the nursery's spare stash. preston normally wears a 4T but we put him in a 2T... he did look pretty silly.
i have to admit i did send marco and antonio to their school in high-water pants. they had to wear uniforms and they were pretty expensive, so they wore patched knees and short pants at least once a week. poor kids... they got over it.
i do think that the time a child goes to school, a parent can handle getting them dressed with a clean face, brushed teeth, and straitened up hair. kalynn is 4 and she leaves for school at 7:55 and she is pretty independent in getting ready on her own. however it is time consuming to do her hair in the morning... if i don't have it braided i usually have to redo it...that is a whole nother story.
also, your 9th point, about medicating kids... i agree with you. i even get people at my church telling me that preston needs to be on riddelin (sp) and they said the same thing with marco. i don't know everything, but i don't want a quick fix remedy, i want to train them to control their behavior. kids are pretty amazing.
and as for your 10th point... kids are amazing. yes, kids will be kids, but they also can learn manners pretty quickly.
i am sure you are an awesome teacher!
janelle
One word....AMEN!
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