It's almost the end of the school year and boy, am I glad that it is going to be over soon! Never had I felt so tired emotionally, mentally and physically than this year.
Teaching in a suburban school where many of the parents are educated and have lots of time on their hands, is a terrible stress. Having taught for 3 years in an urban school, the stress comes from rude children or not being able to teach the pupils as well as we would have liked. Teaching here, the stress not only comes from rude children, totally badly-behaved children, it also comes from the parents and administration.
A few parents whom I know are so obnoxious that they think they are much better than the teachers. Of course, this feeling is passed on to their children as well. In a recent storytelling competition that I took the children to, one of the parents of a child who has transferred back to his old school, kept complaining about my colleagues and the administration and questioned my choice of stories for the children from my school! I mean, come on! To each, his own. I chose the story because I think it is suitable la. Don't blame me if the child had asked stories from you but had decided to use the story that I gave her instead!
Hmm...not only am I stressed out at school, I have children from the school as my neighbours and their parents are overzealous, I can tell you! I reach home, "Ding Dong!" "So how is my daughter at school?" Hmm...I take my dogs out to pee, "Hi! So, my daughter says the teacher didn't come to school today. Why ar?" I take the garbage out, "Hello! Yesterday the teachers got meeting ar?" Basically, I need to hide in the house and pretend that I am not at home when I am busy. Cause if I don't, I'll be stuck talking to the parent for 2 hours, minimum.
So parents, relax! Give the teachers a break! If you think you are not OTT when you catch the teacher for a short chat every other week, imagine if three of the parents are like that, the teacher's free time is gone! Tension only!
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| Luckily, I still have these two stress-relievers to keep me sane! |
