Does your child get along with his or her teacher?
Your kids are bound to complain about their teacher at some point during the school year. They’re human after all…
Maybe their teacher will will assign too much homework…
Or they’ll call your child out in front of the class for not being prepared or for not knowing an answer…
Maybe your child will get in trouble for something and blame the teacher for being mean…
There are lots of reasons your child may have complaints about his teacher…
But as the parent, you need to know when this is just typical child/teacher relationship stuff, and when it’s more serious and you need to intervene.
Parenting expert Michele Borba says…
If complaints continue, seem justified, or your child can’t shrug off intense feelings, then it’s time to take the next step. Your goal is to see if you can form a plan for resolving whatever issue is as hand. Get to the heart of the matter. Is there a quick resolution?
Warning: Don’t be too quick to call the principal and demand that your child be reassigned a new teacher. Doing so only sends your kid the message that you are going swoop in and solve every little problem for her — and she does need to learn how to get along with all kinds of people.
That last part of what Michele Borba says is very important.
Your child needs to learn how to problem solve and doesn’t need to get the message that you’re always going to be there to “fix” every little thing for her.
Instead, help your child learn new ways of interacting and dealing with different personality types. This will be more helpful to your son or daughter in the long run.
Then…
If the complaints last at least a week or if you see a sudden change in your child’s behavior (i.e., he becomes more anxious and clingy, has trouble sleeping, or starts refusing to go to school) set up a conference ASAP with the teacher. The goal in the meeting is to see if your child and teacher are able to talk through their differences and come up with a positive solution.
Please know that I’m not suggesting that you make your child figure this all out on his own. There *is* a time when it’s appropriate for you to get involved as a the parent and call to set up an appointment with your child’s teacher.
There’s a difference between your child needing to learn to get along with all types of people and your child having to put up with being treated in a way that is unfair, unkind, or needs some adult intervention to help smooth things out.
Click through to read the full article from Michele Borba and you’ll also learn appropriate parental responses to your child’s complaints about his teacher – including specific things you can do and say along the way.
More Parenting Advice: Do you have a story about a child/teacher relationship that was challenging? How did you solve it?
When Your Child And His Teacher Just Can’t Get Along [iVillage]
Welcome back to Just Parenting Advice. If you haven't already, make sure you sign up for weekly updates using the form on the right.
