The Parent Spectrum

courtesy of Pixabay CC0 Public Domain

Parent conferences can be friendly or confrontational, interesting or awkward, stressful or amusing, and sometimes you just have to shake your head and wonder what planet the parent is from.

Today we had two conferences that were at the two extremes of the spectrum. In the first, we had a very supportive parent who understands what her child is like, was willing to give us some insight into what the child has been going through, and came across as very friendly and a partner in helping us help her child be successful in class. This parent was a pleasure to talk to, understood where we were coming from, and was agreeable about helping her child understand what is and is not acceptable behavior in the classroom.

At the other end of the spectrum was our second mom.  She was not an unpleasant woman, and she cares deeply about her child, but the woman seems to have a bit of difficulty with exaggeration. One phone call, which was returned, became a dozen or more ignored calls. One visit to the school became four or five visits during which she was completely ignored.

Once she had that out of her system, she calmed down and we were able to have a healthy conference about how we could best help her child succeed. One by one, we outlined what we were already doing to help her child get caught up, the student has missed fifteen days of school this year, ten this semester. By the end of the conference, she was all smiles and appreciative of everything we were doing. I don’t understand why she thought she had to come in on the attack. Some parents don’t seem to understand that, as teachers, we have their child’s best interest at heart. The student’s success is our success.

My Principal and the Guidance Counselor sat in on the second meeting and I think that may have helped temper the mom’s attitude somewhat. Also, unlike my two colleagues, I’d previously taught one of her older children so she knew me.

I feel my team has been very lucky this year as we’ve had lots of parent conferences and for the most part they’ve been peaceful, civil, meetings. Some of the other teams haven’t been so lucky. On at least two occasions, our Principal had have a parent escorted off campus because of how they were behaving and speaking to the staff. If nothing else, such events help us understand why the children sometimes behave the way they do.

We have 34 more school days in this school year, not that I’m counting, and at least 2 more parent conferences this week. Wish us continued good luck with the parents.

As always, I remain,

The Exhausted Educator