Surfing the internet during a pandemic means negativity sells. Here is the latest on the strained relationship between schools and parents.
“Unaware their live-streamed meeting was public, members of the Oakley, Calif., school board were captured mocking parents eager for schools to reopen, saying they just wanted “their babysitters back.” On Friday, the entire board resigned.” The New York Times
This is a situation where everyone lost. This means the parents lost trust in the school board. The community lost a group of people that volunteered to work on the school board.
This back and forth won’t end. The stress of the pandemic has maxed out everything to do with school.
It has brought something I’ve learned from tutoring to light. Parents are a child’s first teacher. I get that old adage but have you ever really tried to teach your kid something they struggle with?
I tutor. I hire tutors to help me with my own kids. The parent child relationship is a delicate one and when kids have problems they need the right kind of encouragement.
Teachers are not babysitters. Parents are not always the best teachers. Our home environment isn’t the best learning environment.
There are too many factors to navigate during this time. Teaching in this pandemic environment means it’s easy to create a power struggle with your kid. Watching your kid learn something new is amazing. Watching them struggle is unbearable.
All these relationships depend upon each other. Watching our kids struggle through a pandemic is hard for everyone involved.
We all learned a lot during this pandemic so we can all come to the table with a greater appreciation for the impact our roles have on each other.
Hopefully in California where the New York Times got this story, they can repair the relationship between parents and schools.