Are You a Parent?

This year will be my 13th year as a teacher.  Numerous changes have occurred throughout my years of teaching.  Most of them, I feel, have been very positive and have made me into a better teacher.  

I remember when I graduated college (Go Falcons!) and I was super excited to get my first teaching job.  I then got a job in my hometown and at a school that I went to when I was little.  I was so excited to decorate my classroom and to be doing what I always imagined and wanted to be doing.  

I got a great mentor and the other teachers at the school were so helpful!  My school year started and I remember feeling intimidated because the parents of my classroom were much older than me.  I felt scared!  

I now had my own classroom that I always wanted but with being just out of school I felt people didn't think I knew what to do.  Not the staff at my school, they were wonderful.  I guess I felt that way from the parents because they thought I was so young.  They would say, I never had a teacher like you?  Are you a parent?  

What did that mean?  

Then the school year progressed.  I had some wonderful students and some that were wonderful but needed a little more help to be that way.  I felt like I finally had my dream job!  I was doing what I always had wanted to do.  

The year, I felt, was going well and my students were learning.  Then I remember someone telling me, you will understand better when you are a parent?  

What does that mean?   

So, every teacher needs to be a parent to be a better teacher?  

Is this true?  

For years, I debated with myself what exactly being a parent had to do with teaching.  I didn't think being a parent would change my teaching at all.  I thought I would be the same kind of teacher that I had always been. 

I know it takes a very special person to be a teacher.  We know we aren't in it for the money.  Are teachers that have children better teachers than teachers that don't have children?  

I know it always upset me when someone would ask me if I had children.  I didn't think it made a teacher better at their job.  After teaching for so many years, I think it depends on the teacher if she/he is a better teacher because they have children.  

I think for myself, it has made me a better teacher because I always think about, what if that was Liam?  What if that was my son?  Is that how I would want his teacher to handle the situation?  I do believe that the teachers that have children of their own feel this way in their teaching.  I think it helps a teacher become a better teacher because it puts more meaning into their job.  It isn't just a child you are teaching, it is someone's child.   Would you want your child treated this way?  

What are your feeling about this subject?  Do you like it when people ask you if you have children?  Does it change the view of the teacher?  Let me know.

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a Wolfelicious Day!!

Jamberry Independent Consultant
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