He's MYYYY kid
I always knew I would have trouble with school. I am a bit of a control freak and have have been known to not share nicely with others. And by school, I mean my children attending grade school.
It always seemed weird to me that I could spend the first four years of their lives constantly keeping them safe, guiding their values and occupying their time with things that I think are appropriate for children. Then, at the old age of four, I should confidently HAND THEM OVER to another person who will in the end spend more time with them than I and shape their core learning. NOT ON MY WATCH, I scream.
I was mocked, apparently appropriately, by other mothers in my neighbourhood that I stayed for the first 2 hours of my grade two's first day of school. They cast suspicious glances my way: wasn't he embarrassed that you stayed? Didn't you feel a little weird as the only parent there? Did the teacher finally ASK you to leave? No, I replied. My whole possessive neuroses seemed completely normal in the setting. I helped the other children get their pencils settled; helped to organize who goes on which bus and made sure that my child was not with a psychopath that could affect his life forever. After all, he came from my body.
Now we move on to JK, which starts for my second son next week. I know his teacher - she is the same kind-hearted JK teacher that my first son had. But my second son is different. He is more reserved; more tentative in social settings and can get himself so upset that he has cried until he vomited. Come on moms out there, you KNOW the type. So, for his first real day of school, I have booked the day off work and it IS err ... WAS my intent to stay with him while he integrates. His interview was today so I asked my spouse to pass this message along to said kind-hearted teacher.
Then things turned nasty. Apparently, they are restricting volunteers in the JK classrooms this year as they found things too chaotic last year. I will be relegated to one day in his English class and one day in his French class over the course of the year. ONE DAY. When Liam was in JK, I was regularly around and had a wonderful relationship with his teachers so I do not think this is directed towards me. HOWEVER... sometimes I think that teachers do not realize that the responsibility for raising healthy, well-adjusted children falls to MY shoulders NOT theirs.
And that it is MY choice to place them in a school in JK and SK. It is not mandatory. I am not one of those sainted mothers who would choose to homeschool: while I respect them greatly, I think they are crazy. But, that does not mean that I want to sign away my responsibility for 8 hours a day. I want to be a part of my children's lives and, for the next umpteen years, those lives will revolve around school.
I want to see who they choose to play with, what activities they enjoy the most and I want to be able to help in areas that they find challenging. Cause thats what a mom does. When I was in school, my mother worked full time and was not able to spend time in the class room. With my younger sister, we were afforded the luxury of a stay-at-home mom who volunteered daily in the school office and was very involved in my younger sister's schooling. And I am sure that kept her in line and focussed.
Wish me luck as I express my outrage to the school at being limited in the amount of time I am ALLOWED to volunteer. I have arranged a compressed schedule that allows me one full day of volunteering every 2 weeks. Just try to keep me out of those classrooms. I can't imagine that having an extra adult pair of hands would ever be a problem in a classroom packed with 21 four year olds. Now I know the teachers in my life are rolling their eyes right now. Beware - this is a mother on a rampage: worse than a back of running hyenas. Clear the way ladies and gentleman and offer comments carefully.
It always seemed weird to me that I could spend the first four years of their lives constantly keeping them safe, guiding their values and occupying their time with things that I think are appropriate for children. Then, at the old age of four, I should confidently HAND THEM OVER to another person who will in the end spend more time with them than I and shape their core learning. NOT ON MY WATCH, I scream.
I was mocked, apparently appropriately, by other mothers in my neighbourhood that I stayed for the first 2 hours of my grade two's first day of school. They cast suspicious glances my way: wasn't he embarrassed that you stayed? Didn't you feel a little weird as the only parent there? Did the teacher finally ASK you to leave? No, I replied. My whole possessive neuroses seemed completely normal in the setting. I helped the other children get their pencils settled; helped to organize who goes on which bus and made sure that my child was not with a psychopath that could affect his life forever. After all, he came from my body.
Now we move on to JK, which starts for my second son next week. I know his teacher - she is the same kind-hearted JK teacher that my first son had. But my second son is different. He is more reserved; more tentative in social settings and can get himself so upset that he has cried until he vomited. Come on moms out there, you KNOW the type. So, for his first real day of school, I have booked the day off work and it IS err ... WAS my intent to stay with him while he integrates. His interview was today so I asked my spouse to pass this message along to said kind-hearted teacher.
Then things turned nasty. Apparently, they are restricting volunteers in the JK classrooms this year as they found things too chaotic last year. I will be relegated to one day in his English class and one day in his French class over the course of the year. ONE DAY. When Liam was in JK, I was regularly around and had a wonderful relationship with his teachers so I do not think this is directed towards me. HOWEVER... sometimes I think that teachers do not realize that the responsibility for raising healthy, well-adjusted children falls to MY shoulders NOT theirs.
And that it is MY choice to place them in a school in JK and SK. It is not mandatory. I am not one of those sainted mothers who would choose to homeschool: while I respect them greatly, I think they are crazy. But, that does not mean that I want to sign away my responsibility for 8 hours a day. I want to be a part of my children's lives and, for the next umpteen years, those lives will revolve around school.
I want to see who they choose to play with, what activities they enjoy the most and I want to be able to help in areas that they find challenging. Cause thats what a mom does. When I was in school, my mother worked full time and was not able to spend time in the class room. With my younger sister, we were afforded the luxury of a stay-at-home mom who volunteered daily in the school office and was very involved in my younger sister's schooling. And I am sure that kept her in line and focussed.
Wish me luck as I express my outrage to the school at being limited in the amount of time I am ALLOWED to volunteer. I have arranged a compressed schedule that allows me one full day of volunteering every 2 weeks. Just try to keep me out of those classrooms. I can't imagine that having an extra adult pair of hands would ever be a problem in a classroom packed with 21 four year olds. Now I know the teachers in my life are rolling their eyes right now. Beware - this is a mother on a rampage: worse than a back of running hyenas. Clear the way ladies and gentleman and offer comments carefully.
posted by y-vonne at 11:01 AM
2 Comments:
oh dear, this is going to get nasty. You must respect the wishes of the teacher in creating a stable, CONSISTENT environment where te kids are able to relax and learn.
Wow!!
I think I can sorta, kinda see the school's point of view but I know I can 100%, positutely, absitively see yours. From one self-proclaimed control freak to another, I wish you well :) Grace goes her 1st day on Wednesday. Let me know how Aiden does?
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