I am a teacher for a decade now and being one, I feel that I am already familiar of how parents act when it comes to the schooling of their children. Well, apparently not. It seems that being being a teacher and a parent can teach you lessons and bring about different realizations. Now that I have my own kid going to school (pre-school), here are two of the things that I have realized:
1. You can never be a teacher to your own kid. Yes, I am a teacher. I am a patient person specially for kids who needs assistance, but I find myself being impatient when my son does not do what I want him to do on his spare time (like practicing to write letters, his name, etc-- don't want him spending the entire morning just watching TV). I lose it. Hehe. We end up mad at each other. Of course I teach him the basics but when it becomes me portraying an academic teacher inside the house? Won't work. Good thing I am in the course of reading this book, Raising Boys, and my perspective and attack on how to teach my son is changing. I got a better picture what goes inside his head and what he needs at this stage of his life. SO now knowing more about raising boys, I am in no hurry to let him do the things I want him to do. As the book says, boys really develop later than girls their age.
2. Parents will be parents. Being a teacher for almost a decade now gave me enough cases of dealing with different parents. I can sense if a parent becomes "defensive" and tries to justify the actions of their children. SOmetimes to the point of becoming a "stage parent". I promised myself I won't become one. But recently when I had the chance to have an informal talk with Liam's teacher, she mentioned that I should give him more puzzles to work on at home. This surprised me because at home he does his puzzles (28pcs) without any hitch. The first puzzle we gave him took him sometime (probably around 5 times) before he completed it without any help and in less tahn 3 minutes. The second puzzle that we gave him only took him twice to complete by himself. SO I was a bit surprised when his teacher told me. Not wanting to look like a stage parent I tried to explain this to his teacher, so his teacher showed me the puzzle he was working on earlier that day. It was smaller but it also had 28 pcs as well. I stopped myself from explaining further because I didn't want to sound like a "defensive" parent to his teacher. I suddenly realized, so this is how it feels. Hehe. Now, I realized that parents, when trying to say that their kids are not like that at home, can probably have a basis. Because Liam is not like that at home. He likes puzzles and he is good at them. ANyways, I was thinking that maybe what the teacher is saying is that he needs assistance because LIam has this tendency of giving up easily at the first try. You need to prompt him and encourage him and remind him to be patient. Well, he is my son.Haha SO that is a wake up call for me as well. Need to see me more practicing patience at home. I am just glad that aside from this comment nothing else should be worked on. His teacher says that he is a good and a bright boy. SOmetimes getting naughty in class with the other boys, but generally he is okay in class. I am not worried about that now (thanks again to the book ;))Boys will be boys. I'd rather have a whole-rounded son than a "perfect" son carrying with him many "baggages" when he grows up.
LIam has just started with pre-school and I know that as he goes up one year to the next I will get to realize more. I just feel happy that now, I get to see the other side of the coin :)
