Saturday, May 23, 2009

Why I Will Never Be A Kindergarten Teacher

I've been working in a kindergarten classroom since mid-February, with a little boy who is severely ADHD and has a rough home life, and I've seen behavior in this classroom, both from him and from others, that makes me wonder about the future of our society. These kids assume they can do whatever they want, they are disruptive, rude and disrespectful to the teachers and even their parents, and the parents either make excuses for them or ignore the behavior completely. When I was a kid we never got away with any of this kind of nonsense, and if we misbehaved, we were terrified of being sent to the principal, and even more terrified when our parents were called...mom and dad weren't going to take our side, they'd be furious and want to know why we did what we did, not excuse it away. And then when we got home, we'd get a spanking at the very least. Half the time when I work with this kid I wish he was mine just so I could give him the spanking he richly deserves, because he and I both know damn well that his parents won't do a thing. That's the hardest part about thisi job, I know there's nothing I can do to this kid as a consequence for his behavior that he really cares about...time outs are as much of a hassle as anything else because I have to hold him there to make him stay and he's sassy and whiny through the whole ordeal, and he wants to go to the office or be sent home so that he doesn't have to do work in the classroom. Taking away things like recess or other fun activities just means that I'm stuck with him alone in the classroom making him behave there and listening to him whine, and not letting him get his energy out. I'm just so sick of it...I'm parenting this kid for his idiot parents, and they have the nerve to look disappointed at me whenever I give them a bad report about his behavior. Maybe if they did their jobs and didn't expect me to do it all...