Dad takes to Facebook to tell parents to stop undermining their kids’ teachers

Parents and teachers are supposed to work together. But if you ask most educators, they’ll say that dealing with parents is one of the hardest parts of their job. Forget unruly kids or complicated bureaucracy. It’s moms and dads who really give teachers gray hairs and sleepless nights.

That’s why dad Blair King wrote an impassioned piece on The Huffington Post, in which he outlines all of the ways that parents make teachers’ lives a living nightmare.

In his piece, “Parents, It’s Time To Stop Undermining Our Kids’ Teachers,” King explains that helicopter parents aren’t just irritating to educators, but they are also doing their kids a grave disservice. He says:

“If there is one true failing that our generation of parents have instilled in our children it is learned helplessness, which is simply the knowledge that if they say “I can’t do something” their parent will complete the task for them. In doing so, we are raising a generation of kids who either give up after one try or don’t even try in the first place.” King is married to a teacher, so he has witnessed firsthand the problems that educators face when dealing with overbearing parents.

Another issue he identifies is that parents don’t treat teachers with respect, which in turn makes their children treat teachers disrespectfully as well.

He writes:

“When you contradict or question your child’s teacher in front of your child, you are telling your child that the teacher’s authority is not to be respected.

When a teacher tells you about something, don’t turn to your child and ask if what their teacher is saying is true. You may think you are involving your child in the discussion, but what you have actually done is to question that teacher’s reliability to their face. Think of it from the teacher’s perspective. You have essentially told them that you won’t believe what they just told you until your child confirms it.”

Many other teachers say that they can relate to this, and that parents often treat them disrespectfully. And they say that disrespectful parents really make teachers suffer.

Do you agree? What do you think of Blair King’s post? Do you think that parents should be allowed to challenge teachers in front of their kids, or is it disrespectful?

[h/t: Huffington Post]