Back to school night. A day any parent either loves, hates or for you super fabulous parents, both. I actually look forward to Back to school night. See I have issues turning over my precious cargo to a complete stranger. I find the whole process of being required to take my child to school and have absolutely little say in who teaches her, who cares for her and whether our goals for MY child are similar, wrong. I don't know this person. Are they mean, nice, fun, burnt out, love to teach or see it as a job. I have no clue and no way of finding out. I'm expected as a parent to just turn her over. It bothers me a lot. See I get the inside scoop because I coordinate the after school program at Briseida's school. So I can find out what this person is all about and I'm still uncomfortable. Yes, I've read the article circulating on Facebook saying parents are ruining education. My only comment is this. Teachers (in this article) compare themselves and their profession to doctors and lawyers. Well I can both choose my doctor and fire my doctor. I am in the room when my daughters doctor examines her. I get to have a discussion about what's best for her based on our family values. Lawyers, the same. Each profession is bound by ethical obligations of best practice. I can't fire my child's teacher, in fact I don't even get to meet her before the first day of school. Soooooo back to school night.............
I am a single parent. I don't have family surrounding me to help. I don't have the husband waiting outside the room watching the kids. I have little extra money if any at the end of every month. In fact, it is often a struggle to feed my 2 wonderful children. We have to ration. So when the expectation at Back to School night is that I don't bring my child into the classroom to meet her teacher for the first time, I'm shocked. Where exactly are my children supposed to be at 6pm on a school night? I work until 6pm sometimes 7pm. Is the expectation that my children play on an unsupervised playground instead of being able to sit with me in the classroom?
I try soooo hard to be involved in my child's education. We read, go over math problems, check the homework, do flashcards, write stories. Why can't I just meet my child's teacher without it costing me a full babysitter fee after not having seen my children for 9 hours.
I'm frustrated. I feel discouraged seeing my daughter cry because her mom can't go into the classroom and leave her an encouraging note like the other parents did. I feel like a failure because I am only one person.
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