Parents

From my experience as a teacher I have encountered all kinds of parents!!!! It is usually the philosophy of a teacher and program that no one knows a child like their parents...they are the experts! I have had a few occasions where I must disagree!! Sometimes I wonder if we are talking about the same child. It always makes me laugh when a parent says something to the effect of "they never do that at home" or "well I told him if he gets hit he better defend himself and smack them back". Those are just a few of my favorites.

You have the parents that shrugged everything off and act like what you just told them is not a big deal. You have parents that immediately blame other children in the classroom for their child's behavior (this one is very typical). Then there are the parents that immediately get defensive and and want to know if their child is the only child you have ever seen act that way and they are doing the best they can and what exactly do you expect them to do. On the flip side there are the parents that want to know every behavior there child exhibits and if the child strays once they think they need counseling. As you can see parents come in many forms. No...not all are this way. Most parents are sensible and understand that their child exhibits unfavorable behaviors at times (because all children do) and they are willing to work with teachers to correct the behavior. But...there are always some exceptions, as you will read below.

A Very Special Parent
For the most part I have excellent parents in my classroom!!! But there are always those few or that one you really dread to see coming. I had a parent once that complained about something everyday!!! Most of the time she wasn't even complaining about something in our classroom, it was usually about other parents or the food we serve. These were things I really had no control over!! She really made my life miserable, she would track me down everyday!!! I have to admit there were times I would actually hide from her in the afternoons...if she found me she would say "are you hiding from me". Seriously??? If you think someone may be hiding from you aren't you going to ask yourself what are you doing to cause someone to want to do that? Something tells me that was not the first time she thought someone was avoiding her. When her child moved on to kindergarten I had another parent that also went to the same school. It was a private school and the other parent told me that she was driving everyone there crazy as well (I was not surprised) and other parents were threatening to leave the school because of her. The teacher was having a hard time with her also so the other parent told her not to feel bad because I use to hide form her...haha!!! She actually got called to the head master's office as was told if she wasn't happy to take her money and leave. I doubt that even made her realize the extent of her behavior. I have never before nor since had such a parent in my classroom. She has come back to visit a few times and when word gets out that she is in the building everyone either gets really busy and can't talk or well you know me....I just hide!!!!

Tips for Dealing with Difficult Parents

Great article about different types of parents and how to handle them