The news is filled with stories of parents not being parents. Sometimes I read news stories in shock and wonder how is this person or that person able to be a parent. I don’t think I have ever seen a news story profiling awesome parents. Of course the news is filled with parent fails, people like to read those and judge the parents and say, “I would never do that.” People would not be nearly as interested in stories about successful parents.
Everyone is very quick to blame the parents when kids mess up. We need to remember that some of the best parents in the world have some really messed up kids. I see my share of parenting fails in my job. However, I do see a lot of parents doing things right. I love these moments, because they remind me that being a parent is hard and sometimes even good parents fail.
What I See
I see parents that do change their schedules in order to attend parent conferences and Open House.
I see parents that do stay home with their sick children instead of sending them to school.
I see parents that hug their children everyday when they drop them off in the carpool line (YES AT A HIGH SCHOOL).
I see parents that call our school and ask to talk to teachers because they are concerned about something going on with their student.
I see parents that put the blame on their student, not the teachers.
I see parents that sacrifice their needs to provide for the needs of their children.
I see parents that struggle to make ends meet and are embarrassed to ask for help but they ask because they want their child to be successful.
I see parents that spend countless hours volunteering in order to help make school activities successful.
I see parents that sacrifice their own free time in order to take kids to and from practices and to games. Having a active teen that can not drive is very time consuming.
I see parents that stand behind teachers when their student has done something wrong.
I see parents that cry during parent conferences when a teacher says a nice thing about their student.
I see parents that celebrate success with their students.
I see parents who feel like nothing they do is ever good enough, but they still keep stepping up and doing the best that they can do.
Parenting is hard, and we need to come together and support each other. The “mommy wars” and blame games have got to stop. Sure we have some parents that don’t parent, but that does not mean that every issue that comes up in school or society is due to lack of parenting. Sometimes kids just do dumb things.