I figured that someday this blog would come - I would get so, hmmm what's the word I'm looking for...shocked, disgusted, annoyed, surprised - something along those lines by the parents of the pre-school that I'd end up writing a blog about what I can't believe that they do. I am very aware that I am not a parent, so maybe my reactions to some of the following things are misjudged. Maybe when you become a parent your thinking changes drastically and the things below seem normal, which to empty nesters like me seem way off. You, kids or not, please be the judge and let me know what you think.
Shopping is sick (as in awesome)! I was incredibly shocked that one day one of our students came down with a 100.5º fever and when we called the mother, she didn't seem the least bit concerned. She said she would come a bit early to pick him up if she could, but that basically she would get to school when she got there. I will grant her the fact that she came about 30 minutes earlier than normal (still 2 hours after we called her; and she doesn't work), but upon seeing her son, said he looked fine and proceeded to, as I found out from a workmate her saw her later that evening, take him with her to the mall! A kid with a fever does not belong at the mall in my book, but maybe that's my kidlessness talking. She told us the next day that 'he seemed fine all day yesterday, behaved like a perfect angel at the mall because he barely made any noise at all!' Wow...a quiet baby for hours, could it have been for his temp?? Appalled.
I don't know where your hands have been. A couple of weeks ago, one of our students came to school accompanied by her mother who as soon as she entered rushed to tell me that her daughter had a mouth disease - a fungus to be exact. She kindly asked that I do my best to keep her daughter's fingers out of her own mouth, which anyone who knows a 1-year old knows thats pretty much impossible. She then advised me that this thing was contagious so to also try to make sure the kids don't play with the toys her daughter plays with after her. Riiiiiiight. Maybe she didn't understand how ridiculous it was to ask for students in a daycare not to ever touch the same toys because she only has 1 kid, but I held back rolling my eyes and said I'd do my best. Pretty sure my best failed in about 2.5 seconds after she left the room.
No kisses allowed. Here it is very common to greet someone with two kisses (one per cheek). Even some of the kids give you a little peck when they come or leave. One day, a very sick little girl came to school - I mean sneezing up the wazzu, snot flying everywhere, coughing up a storm, watery eyes, the works - because her mom said she didn't have a temp so she wasn't sick enough to stay home. Poor baby. Anyways, this was when I was just getting over a weeks worth of fever, puking, coughing and more, so I was trying pretty hard to stay away from all the viruses running around our class. When the mom came to pick her little cough machine up, she said 'give Miss Amanda a kiss' and I said 'no no, blow me a kiss, no real kisses today' and the mom got quite upset. She asked why I wouldn't kiss her child (as she let out a monster sneeze) and I explained nicely that after weeks of being sick and finally feeling better I being cautious, to which to replied, 'if you haven't caught what she has so far today, one kiss isn't going to pass it to you.' I disagree and don't feel like being chastised for not giving a running nose lips kid a kiss. Again, maybe if it were my kid's snot I'd want to give her a million, but alas I am not. You can keep your kid and her germs thank you very much.
English is the name of the game. This one is just odd to me
because of where I work. Being an English school, we speak to the
children in English most of the time. During report card time last
year, we commented about one girl to her mother that she was very shy
but a good girl. The mother, offended, said that she asked her daughter
why she was so quiet in class and the girl said that it's because we
speak 'weird' aka English, which she doesn't understand. The mother
asked that from then on we please speak to her daughter in Spanish so
she understands and can enjoy the class more. Ummmm then why are you
paying an arm and a leg for your child to go to an English school?
Beyond me.
Nap-time or nap-crime? We have a student who comes late every single day. I mean it, every day. The parents don't seem to care that she always is last to arrive and one day when one of them was in a bad mood, explained that it is our fault that thier daughter is always late because she sleeps too much in the nap. The mother said we need to limit her daughter's nap to 1 hour (while most of them sleep 2) and wake her up so she will be tired enough to go to sleep at night. Whatever. We did that for awhile and ended up with a very cranky 2-year old on our hands in the afternoon who still came late the next day. Now we just let her sleep til she wakes up. On the flip side, there is a little girl in the 3-year old class who doesn't sleep at all, she just doesn't ever seem to be tired and fall asleep. Instead of complaing that thier daughter doesn't want to fall asleep at night, these parents complained that their daughter is too tired after school from not sleeping that they cannot meet friends at the bar in the evening without her turning into a brat. They told us we need to MAKE HER sleep. How do you do that? You can only tickle and cuddle a little kid so long before you realize thier wide open eyes are just not going to shut. Ughhhh the nap.
Temperature-taking certified. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to let you know that along with my Marketing degree, 3 years of teaching experience and language skills, I also am a very good temperature taker. Turns out, with all those accolades, I never would have guessed that of them, my temperature taking skills would be the ones in question. One day I took a student's temperature and it turned out it was quite high - a little under 100º. I called the mom who sent the grandma to pick him up from school. When I handed him over to the grandma his temperature had risen to about 100.5º, which I told her. The next day he was back in school again and his mom kindly commented that when she got home from work that he didn't have a fever and was completely fine (amazing what some medicine will do no?). I assured her that I took the temp more than once and that it had increased as the day went on. She then had the gall to ask me if I took the temperature correctly. I was baffled. YES I took it correctly, I know how to do my job! Maybe mothers don't think that anyone else besides them knows how to take thier own childrens' temp. But after she left, I got to wondering...say I HAD taken the temperature incorrectly, don't ask me how you would do that, but suppose I had, then wouldn't the temperature have been super low? Can you magically heat up a thermometer and quote a higher temp? I still get angry about it to this day. Pshhh did I take the temperature right. Ridiculous.
Ok, enough parent ranting for me. I again state it must be because I don't have kids because these things just don't seem normal to me. Maybe it's just Basque parents? Maybe it's rich parents? I don't know, but regardless of the cause, I don't think I'll ever understsand it completely. Maybe you can offer me your best insight?
Muxu!
Amanda
No comments:
Post a Comment