This is a new blog post series that will be sporadic and only as topics arise. This is a blog post that is generated with my wife, Amanda, who is an 8th grade Algebra and Pre-Algebra teacher. This post idea was generated through various conversations we have had over the years where we talk about the downsides to both of us being educators and the results this can have on our children.
Below is our list of ideas we have talked about throughout our careers. We would love to hear what you think and what you would add to the list.
- When you refer to your 170 students as “my kids” to your own kids
- When you buy candy for students in your classroom but not your own children
- When you talk about the children in your classroom more than your own children over family discussions
- When you are so exhausted after a day of teaching that you have no energy for your own children
- When you are not in the mood for noise when you get home from school and tell your kids “Just give me 5 minutes of no talking”
- When you come home with zero patience for your kids being kids because you dealt with “your kids” all day long and they sucked up all the patience out of your mind and body
- When your children feel the added pressure to do well in school because their parents are both teachers
- When we both deliver a 35 question consultation into how their day was, why they did what they did, the quality of the work, why they did the work the way they did, what they thought about their thinking………(you get the drift)
- When we cannot always make all the school events because it is difficult to leave our class, sub coverage, saving days for the dreaded illnesses that plague desks, chairs, hands, and more.
If you are an educator and parent what are other ideas that need to be added to the list?
In a future post we will share and discuss the upsides to have both parents as educators, but for now we say sorry to our real children. We understand that there are times when parenting and educating parts of our lives blur together and we find ourselves educating our real children and parenting our students in the classroom. Keeping things in perspective and checking ourselves is the key. Despite this list being somewhat funny intentionally, there is absolute truth layered in each statement.
This post has actually brought tears to my eyes as it really does speak the truth. I can relate coming from similar but from another challenging perspective. In my educational role I see a lot of hardship and struggles. Students who come to school to be loved and student who are loved at home but come to school to be educated. I see students who lack certain skills as a results of home environment or other difficulties and wonder how those experiences effect me when I am helping my own children. Am I educating them or loving them? I hope both but I do feel at times I wore all my patience out at school. With myself being and educator and my husband in business we come home from two very different environments. At times we don’t find the time to talk about our kids and then we get frustrated because we both handled things differently. Thanks for posting this and I look forward to discussing more. Would be interesting to get our kids perspectives at some point!!
Grilling your child’s teacher about their grades, asking about necessity of assignments, how they can earn a “4”, etc. Or spending the conference talking shop instead of about your child.
I recently resigned from my teaching position because of many of the “reasons” on this list. My biological children often play second fiddle to my students. No more!