Volatile Parents

So today I got yelled at by a parent wooo. Kind of feel like it's some sort of school initiation or something.

     As I was gathering up a small class, the parent of one of the students (works in the school) approached me and demanded to know why I was pulling their child out of class. I politely informed them that we were holding a quick class (help students to know what to do when symptoms of a specific health issue that they have arise), and that seemed to quell their growing indignation. At the end of the class we had the children take off their shoes so we could weigh/ measure them. It got a bit messy with all these children not caring and rolling around on the floor -__-. Since there wasn't a lot of space in our office, I instructed them to hurry and put on their shoes and return to their seats at the table outside. I should note here that I DID NOT tell the students to take their shoes to the table to put back on even though I considered it. It would be easier for them to put their shoes back on if they were sitting, but at the same time you know I don't like to walk around without shoes on the dirty floor. So I allowed the children to put their shoes back on in the smaller office before returning to the table outside.

     They took a while to put their shoes back on and weren't as quick to return to the table as I'd like so well, what can you do. I noticed at one point though that the child of the aforementioned parent did go out and return to their seat at the table, and thought, "wow, what a good child". Later, it was deemed ok for the children to return to class once they had been weighed, so I instructed them that once they had gathered all their materials that they could return to class. By then another child had joined the first one at the table and they were getting quite rowdy. In the end they both ran out of the office and left their materials -___-.

     Not long after I finished and cleared all the children out of the office, I was stopped in the hallways by the parent above- child in tow. They were not very happy. Parent asked if we had taken off child's shoes to weigh, I responded that we had. Parent angrily demanded to know why we had not bothered to help child put shoes back on. It was here that I remembered child had asked me to help them undo their laces, but I had thought that they were having trouble because it was double knotted (Even I had a bit of trouble getting them loose). I quickly apologized and informed parent that I didn't realize child needed help (child didn't say anything to me, and since they had sat at the table I had assumed they had their shoes on already), then I offered to assist right then and there and motioned to bend down. Parent declined with attitude and notified me that child would not be attending anymore classes or whatever. I said ok. Then when I attempted to give them the child's booklet they replied that child would not be needing that. Well I wonder if that would still be their response if the child had a more debilitating health issue =/.

     On my way back, heard parent in another person's office unhappily complaining that they didn't know how in the world the nurse's office was operating, and that the bottom of child's socks were dirty. I understand how that is a problem (it's actually really hard to get such dirty socks really clean), but what I want to know is: WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU PUT SUCH COMPLICATED SHOES ON SUCH A YOUNG CHILD?! If I remember right, they were boots. That's not even good for your child's developing feet! First of all, your child should know how to tie laces by 1st grade, if not kindergarten, and if they don't then you need to take a hint from other parents and get them velcro shoes! I learned how to tie shoes when I turned 4 so it's absolutely no excuse. Second, I don't understand why you haven't taught your child to ask for help when they need it. They asked for help in undoing the laces, so why not when putting the shoes back on? Parents are sometimes too quick to blame others. The child was at the time in our care, so for failing to notice I did apologize, but you need to also teach your child how to do better in such situations. That's partially what's wrong with our society today- people are too quick to lay blame somewhere else. This child grows up seeing this kind of example from you and never realizes how to better themselves. TEACH YOUR KID HOW TO TIE LACES AND ASK FOR HELP WHEN NEEDED (and not run off).

     So I didn't even feel a milligram bad. I acknowledge that I can improve and will be more cautious next time, but it was an honest mistake and I was not all- or even mostly at fault. So I did a pshhhhhh, and flicked it away. Well I just write it here because it's drama and people love drama. But otherwise I shook it off like raindrops on my coat, psha pshaaa~

And to my readers: some of you may be these volatile parents. I just want you to take a look at it from another point of view. If it's a first offense and an honest mistake (and not something like dropping your baby on its head) then I think yelling at someone is not the best way to go. You can of course caution the teacher- honestly yelling at people doesn't motivate them, rather it does the opposite for me. AND PLEASE teach your child to ask for help. 

I remember how when I was little my classmate's parents would be calling for this or that, and I never really understood why- nothing ever happened that was a big deal. Also, there is absolutely no reason to freak out when children get bumps, bruises, or little cuts. This is life, shit happens. They're not going to die. The teacher cannot keep their eyes on 20 different little kids and do things at the same time. They try their best, but a child can get slapped in a split second. It's what the teacher does about it after that matters. Punishing the offending child, and giving the victim child care. If necessary, separate the children. There's no need to make a big deal after. What happens, happens. The only thing that warrants extra action is if a child is getting constantly bullied, or their head gets smacked against something.

Speaking of bullying. In elementary school, there was a girl in my class who reeked. You could smell her 5 feet away so none of us really wanted to play with her. We didn't have a problem with the girl's personality or anything. One day the teacher came up to my group of people and told me that she was very disappointed in me (which was like a slap to the heart) for not playing with the other girl. But honestly, if someone smells that bad, it's difficult to play with them for long periods of time. Forcing young children to do so seems like you are punishing them for something. For the rest of the 30 minutes we had to get semi close... then run far away to breath... then come back in. It was puzzling because we did try to find out what the problem was. Perhaps it was her hair? no. Clothes? No. We just couldn't understand. Her mom bathed her daily and her hair was washed as well.  

Don't be mistaken, we had nothing against her. One day she came in smelling just fine, and that confused us until we realized it. Then we whole heartedly complimented her saying "You smell really good today!" And we continued to compliment her as long as she smelled ok. When she stank though, we had to admit it as well.

Many people are quick to judge and say how bad we were, bullying that little child. But I ask you to first look at yourself. Even now, as adults, if there was someone who stank from 5 feet away we still would not want to interact with that person. Only now it would reflect poorly on that person, so now people try to correct the problem themselves if possible.

     I decided to reward my hard day of work with DCC frap. Picked up a chicken salad sandwich from starbucks as well. Frap was too much ice, tasted watery- not enough milk/ choco flavor, but we knew this already. The sandwich was pleasant in that the bread was actually not dry (another sandwich place has dry bread =/. The chicken salad was interesting with craisins! The only thing is it has 1000mg of sodium -___-.