To think that all parents should spend a day in the life of a teacher

[Ivortheengine8]

in the classroom [alone with a class of little brats sweety pies and see what little angels their children all are at school?
Do you think any parents would be surprised? Overwhelmed? Shocked?
well?

[mrsravelstein]

i think any parent who has done a kids party (i took eight 10 year olds out yesterday for ds1's birthday, it's going to take me a week to recover) would have a fair idea that children en masse are horrible.

[pfbornot]

No thanks, I know what buggers my DS and his classmates are! (reception)

[kickingking]

Yes, I think a lot would be suprised.

Personally, I would like to have people spend a whole week as a teacher - I was writing reports at 1am this morning, after a traumatic few days involving a car accident (no sympathy or let up from my boss...) and then they can tell me how easy I have it.

[Ivortheengine8]

Sympathy Kicking, hope you start feeling better soon.

[giddly]

I think many professions (particularly those dealing with the public) would like people to understand more about their work (nurses, physios, university lecturers, social workers, frontline benefits advisors, etc.....).

[Shoesytwoesy]

yep and all teachers should spend a week being a parent(cos not all teachers have kids)

[NeverAttributeToMalice]

No point. IMO, the stresses of teaching come from
(a) The responsibility teachers feel towards their students and their long term goals,
(b) Staffroom politics-it is the nature of the beast that the kings and queens of their own classrooms are egotistical and territorial when they are all put together, and
(c) All of the non-classroom-based stuff: the things you hear about children and their families that make you sad, and that you can never un-hear; the angry/unreasonable/bad parents teachers deal with; the lack of any emotional support/possibilities to vent/proper debriefing (in our case, the only time you have access to mental health services is when a student commits suicide) in spite of being glorified social workers.

You need to teach for at least a week before you start to understand all that stuff

[NeverAttributeToMalice]

And I totally agree with Shoesy. Becoming a parent definitely changed me as a teacher.

[kickingking]

I agree with Shoesy too - I realised how harshly I had judged families (privately, obviously) once I became a parent.

[OldMacEIEIO]

my nan gave me the best advice. 'eeeee oldmaceieieo' , she said, 'kids are like f@rts. Your own are blooming great, but everyone elses are just horrible'

[Ivortheengine8]

Absolutely giggly, I was just thinking about some conversations I had had during the last week referring specifically to schools. I am not a teacher in the UK myself now, although I taught abroad for a few years.

[Riveninside]

Agree twoshoes.
Ive been a home educater. I think teachers should spend time doing some of tnat too

[Ivortheengine8]

Very true Shoesy, I can imagine.

[IndigoBell]

It's not the point whether it's an easy job or not - it's their job.

The job they trained to do, chose to do and are paid to do.

I wouldn't expect anyone to be able to do my job without relevant training and experience.... Plenty of people think my job's hard - but it's not to me.........

[DrNortherner]

Why?!

Should I also spend a week doing the job of every service I use? Doctor, Librarian, Bus Driver, waitress, Bank cashier?......

[NotJoiningIn]

One 7 month old DD is WAY harder than 30 teenagers that are not mine, even in spite of all the other difficulties NeverAttribute has mentioned!

[cory]

I think it would be an excellent idea for teachers to have to spend a number of mornings with a disabled and/or school refusing child; I often felt like ringing dd's junior school teacher and telling her to come and deal with the whole shit if she thought she could do any better.

I've been a supply teacher in some pretty rough schools, but it was never this exhausting. And you could always comfort your ruffled feelings by blaming the parents

[NotJoiningIn]

I often felt like ringing dd's junior school teacher and telling her to come and deal with the whole shit if she thought she could do any better.

I have actually been to kids houses to get them out of bed for school! I agree, not easy!

[seb1]

No point it is their job, if they don't like it move, as my boss used to say when we moaned, it is your job, nobody makes you come in every day, if you don't like it there is the door don't let it hit your backside on the way out.

[c0rn55ilk]

shoesytwoesy makes an excellent point

[c0rn55ilk]

as does cory....

[Guitargirl]

YABU. Would you like to come and try a week in my job?

OP - am assuming you are a teacher. If you don't like it change jobs but don't expect people to give you a medal for doing what you are paid and presumably chose to do.

[Laquitar]

No thanks, i wouldn't like to do it.

I always had sympathy for teachers but since joining mn and read some threads i have even more sympathy.

[cory]

You can tell I got judged by dd's teachers, can't you, NotJoiningIn?

But would you actually have been prepared to come round to carry a child as tall as yourself, who was physically unable to walk and screaming in genuine pain, down a narrow flight of stairs? Because that is what they expected of me. All I can say is I would have liked to have seen somebody else do it.