Now, I don’t have children, so I don’t necessarily understand all the nuances of child-rearing, but having worked as a high school teacher for the past three years, I think I’ve earned the right to say what I think about the relevance of proper parenting. On a daily basis, I manage classrooms of 30+ students, most of whom cannot write a proper essay or listen long enough to hear the instructions. I cannot tell you how many times a student will ask me what he or she is supposed to be doing, 30 seconds after I finish explaining what he or she is supposed to be doing. Literally 30 seconds. So here is some parenting advice from an I-am-in-danger-of-romanticizing-the-1950’s-era-of-male-emotional-stoicism-and-female-housewife-suppression-because-at-least-our-kids-knew-how-to-read teacher:
- Teach your children to read books. Put away the video games, limit their time on the computer and please confiscate the smartphone if your child or teenager spends more time on it than with you. If you instill in your children the value of the well-written word, they will learn how to think critically, to read between the lines, and to comprehend human interaction and emotional depth. If I need to explain the importance of these things to you, then there’s no point in your reading any further, because there’s really nothing I could say that would make you understand.
- Teach your children boundaries and respect. This is NOT the school’s job. We already have enough to deal with. As my parents told me many times growing up, if you don’t learn to control yourself, then someone else will control you. If you have any knowledge or understanding of history and human nature, then you’ll get why this is a useful guideline. Pass it on.
- Teach your children the concept of RESPONSIBILITY and the virtue of PREPARATION. As in: Bring a pen to class. Memorize those verb conjugations. Save the project on a USB - because everybody knows your computer is going to die on the day of your presentation. Facts of life, people. Facts of life. The real world can be pretty cutthroat. We’re not doing them any favors by handing everything to them on a silver platter. I am not in the customer service business.
- Don’t allow an ADHD diagnosis to let you off the hook when it comes to you parental responsibility. Medication is not going to curb your child - you are. These types of kids can grow up to be creative powerhouses - IF they learn how to channel their gifts constructively. I’m well aware that this requires a TON of mental and emotional energy, but think of how much easier you’ll be making my life.
- Please do the world this favor: Don’t surrender your authority that easily. Once you lose it, it’s pretty much impossible to get it back.
Yes, I’m venting. But I am genuinely concerned about the future of our young people, and with them, the world. With all the technological advances of our day and age, we’re at the point of no return. We cannot afford to let computers raise our kids. We cannot afford to shift our parental responsibility onto another person or institution. If all your children receive from you are whatever tired bread crumbs you’ve got left by the time evening rolls around, then may I kindly suggest a restructuring of priorities. On behalf of teachers and future employers everywhere, I thank you.
