Waiting for SuperMom

Waiting for SuperMom 

I am all for putting the best teachers into every classroom. If we only asked as much of parents.

My daughter was pushing a D in Algebra. I didn’t do well in Algebra, so it was easy for me to dismiss her grade as an inherent ‘gift’ from me, however, she ‘gets’ algebra, so what’s the problem? 

There is a tool our school district provides its parents; it’s AERIES. AERIES allows me to check grades, assignments, and attendance. It has links to teachers sites, for homework, and updates. Without it I would have to resort to the proverbial “Do you have any homework?” drone, but now I can trade in my Nagging Mom title for ‘Spy.’ A title I am not afraid to own. My child can consider me a spy, she’d be better off not calling me one, but she can think it all she wants. As long as she is my responsibility, I will do what I need to, to give her the foundation to succeed. If I want my child to succeed I have to act like her Mom. No, I have to be her Mom, and as I have learned, being a parent is not for sissies. If we expect a lot of our teachers, we need to expect more of our parents. 

We expect our teachers to design lesson plans that incorporate challenging content with stimulating methods, that will produce outstanding scholars. On the flip side, we expect parents to get their kids to school on time, hopefully fed, and clothed (appropriately), provide meager supplies, maybe a lunch, and pick them up when school let’s out. We want our teachers to keep our child engaged for 40 +/- minutes, all the while plying them with a plethora of information for which they (the teacher) are expected to somehow facilitate the students to retain. While parents are expected to pose the question. “Do you have any homework?” and believe when their child replies, “Nope” or “I did it in class.” On occasion parents are called upon to assist in homework, 9 times out of 10, it is a subject they end up Googling, because they haven’t  had a need to study that particular subject since the days, they themselves, sat riveted in a classroom.

There are parents who can be found helping in the classroom, and who are seen about campus, but they are few, and far between, and by the time their child hits Jr. High, they thin out as to be negligible. But teachers are expected to be there, with my child, 5 days a week, for most of the year. 

Of course, we raise our children, we do everything for them, we give them a roof and food, we dress them and pay their phone bill, we buy them computers and Uggs. We give them money when they need it. We love our children and want the best for them, we just hope the best is out there, so we can buy it, or rent it, or find some way to get it for them. I believe the best for them is right where they live. We love our children and would do anything for them, except say “No.”, or make them do chores, or teach them manners, or require them to respect us, or others. We love our children and would do anything for them, except, ask them to take care of the pet they begged us for, or teach them to push a lawn mower, or teach them help thy neighbor, or hold a door for someone, or give up their seat for someone who needs it. 

We cannot fathom our lives without our children, yet half the time we don’t even know where they are, nor do we ask where they are going. When we do ask, we believe that they will be where they say they are, and that they will stay there, until we see them again. Some parents believe that children get to an age where they should have the freedom to do, and go, as they please, and they are right, that age is 18. Until the age of 18, my child is my responsibility. 

If I want a well educated child, it is my responsibility to pick up where the teacher leaves off. When I home-schooled my daughter, I didn’t just correct the work she was assigned and hand it back to her, I went over what she didn’t understand, until she understood it. The difference now is, it's the teacher who instructs and facilitates, the teacher quizzes and tests, and does their best to make sure my child, and 20 other children, understand the material and subject, and it is my job to pick up the slack. 

My daughter was pushing a D in Algebra, I didn’t do well in Algebra, but I am determined to do well as a parent. With the help of a tool at my disposal, I learned she was missing 2 quizzes and some homework, her computer was at risk of being taken away if she didn’t go in at lunch-time and take the quizzes, and I made sure she finished the assignments she missed and now she’s pulling a B-. 

I am all for putting the best teachers into every classroom. If we only asked as much of parents.