Calling all Reception teachers - what makes you hate parents?

[spiralqueen]

A friend who has not long retired from teaching at a primary school recently warned us that our DD knowing too much on arrival at Reception would make the staff hate us. Is this true - honest opinions and not the PC line?

(We have a horror of small children being dragged to "mandarin for toddlers" and the like but she does go to nursery part time. She has picked up a great deal but that has not been because we have been pushing her)

Belle03: On the flip side, I LOVE parents who are chilled, who only do a few minues reading homework but do it every night & I love parents who let their kids dig, look at worms, obsess over dinosaurs-whatever the kid wants to do, not the bloody parent! Most of all I love parents who actually talk to their child & who actually listen to the answers, more like this please!

now THAT is the kind of parent I really want to be.

actually ninah you reminded me, when I used to collect my stepdaughters from juniors, their friends would tell their parents about their day and get no response, parents too busy chatting amongst themselves. not in an 'in a minute darling I'm just talking to somebody else' way, but in a 'it's not my job to care what you do in school' way. made me very and to see that

ok that teacher wins the catsbummouth award!

Parents who think it's my job to toilet train their child, teach them basic manners, teach them how to get dressed and undressed, teach them how to hang up their coat, teach them how to eat with a knufe and fork, teach them basic, simple conversation....... need I say more? The list could be endless really. I'm NOT there to be the parent (obviously I will be lovely to your child as if they were my own whilst they are in my care at school) - I have a job to do which, funnily enough, is to teach them.

Parents who just don't care are my pet hate, especially the ones who keep having children until they get the boy/girl they wanted and then ignore the other siblings!!! At the end of the day, it's usually the taechers who end up picking up the pieces.

Oh and one last one, which REALLY annoys teachers at this time of year - parents who moan about how are they possibly going to manage to spend 6 weeks with their children? Er, hello? I've just spent 6 hours a day for 39 weeeks with your child - surely you ( you had the after all!) can manage 6 weeks?

I DO love my job - it's just that some parents can make it very frustrating and depressing sometimes......

turning up late to collect

dropping them late

insisting on talking to teacher every day

pointing out loudly what they've done at home - they need to do it in the classroom so shaddup

Oops! You can tell it's the end of a long day - sooooooo many spelling mistakes. Sorry.

My best friend's a teacher, her school have had to refuse children who are not toilet trained (no medical condition). She hates parents that take no interest in their children and allow the nanny to do it all, she also hates parents who tell her when she is allowed to go on maternity leave
She likes pro active parents, if they have the spawn of satan the least they can do is back her up.

lara........don't you get paid then?

Obviously if a child is being failed by a school that is different and should be addressed.

Sorry spiralqueen but I've never heard anything so ridiculous.

What do you DO, though, if your kid is really bright and reading/comprehending far above his or her age and you don't want to piss the reception teacher off? How do you introduce the subject so as not to sound like a nutter and immediately make the teacher not want to ever talk to you again? It's all very well saying 'they're all 4 and all as bright as each other' but what if your 4 year old has essentially taught herself to read (I mean actually deciphering words off her own bat, not just recognising her name or other simple words) and you think it would be a good idea if the teacher knew that. I know that reception is a lot more about learning to be in a group, playing, making friends, being independent rather than actual formal learning. But it's surely not nuts to tell your child's teacher if they are doing something that is actually quite good for their age? I'm a bit aghast at the idea that this would be interpreted as unhelpful.

Well Horton, I must have been a really unhelpful parent as ds was reading Dick King Smith books when he started school.

DD1 starts reception in September. I am now really worried that I am 'not allowed' to ask how she's getting on or will be put on the parents-i-don't-like list.

What is considered an acceptable frequency, then? Weekly? Monthly? Should I wait until the teacher decides she wants to speak to me? Is it really any wonder people wave reading books around in the playground if it's the only method they feel they have of gauging how well their child is doing - even if it's in relation to other kids at least you find out? If you don't ask how they are getting on, how can you best help your child at home?

I am not having a go btw, just wanting to know what 'the rules' are I work in the NHS and I love the patients that sit happily (and quietly) on my waiting list until I send them an appointment which I then expect them to make at my convenience, and then there's always the ones who ring up wanting to know when they're going to be seen (how very dare they )...so I do get the whole time-pressured resource concept in relation to teacher's time as I have to do it myself. But that doesn't make it an ideal system and even worse is that we are conditioned not to ask for fear of offending.

But surely the teacher will notice for themselves if your child is doing something that others their age can't? My dd has also started deciphering words and actually I'm sure she won't be the only one in her reception class who can do it. She's bright and picks things up quickly but it's hardly child genius stuff is it?

Never mind the parents who want a word with the teachers every night, what about the teachers who want a word with the parents every night? It is just as annoying...

Horton I think they will notice that anyway without you telling them.
Ds2 is super fast at picking up maths- fractions at age 3 kind of stuff.
I didn't tell the teacher and despite there being 30 other kids in the class his maths ability has been commented on as soon as he entered foundation and he's been put in numeracy sets with the most able kids in KS1 and so on.
You can nurture special skills at home too I think-doesn't mean you're doing the school's job, just doing nice interesting stuff with your child.

It depends Picca. I just wrote on his information (get to know ds) that he could read, I didn't say how well. He was still sent home with an ORT stage 1 book for the first month or so, pointless really. The teacher only heard him read once a week so didn't really know what level he was at as she just didn't have the time. If it was down to her he'd have read every book at every level before he was allowed to move onto something more challenging.