Lazy Parents

[Karlita]

So I went out to lunch with a couple of co-workers this afternoon. While enjoying my Mexi-Dips & Chips, this woman sits down with someone I would assume was her co-worker and starts yapping about how her kid was punished in school for not turning in his 1st grade poetry assignment. Apparently her kid has to miss 7 recesses since he didn't turn in his homework. And this lady was P-I-$-$-E-D!

"7 RECESSES! 7 RECESSES! Don't you think that's just cruel?!? He's in first grade!!! Doesn't that sound excessive? And it was just a completion grade! They got the assignment on Monday and had to turn it in on Friday, but it was ALL supposed to be done at HOME! That goes WELL beyond their normal school work."

Q: What happens when a lazy parent doesn't ensure their child finishes its homework?

A: Blame the teacher, apparently.

The best part about this whole story is that the poor co-worker who had to listen to her blab on and on was giving her this look like, "You fat, lazy (female dog)! Get off your (rear end) and make sure your 1st grader gets his homework done on time! They don't come with self-dicipline built in, ya know."

I like Taco Bueno. ;D

[preraph]

It's so negligent to be the kind of parent who refuses to teach their kid responsibility.

[happy2bchildfree]

preraph said:

It's so negligent to be the kind of parent who refuses to teach their kid responsibility.

Then they turn around and place blame on the teacher, school system, etc

[Tabetha]

It's called character building. The teacher gives an assignment with a specific due date. Parent positively reinforces the value of education through their attention and oversees the work. Kid does the work and hands it in on time. Kid avoids the negative consequences of not handing the work in on time *and* gains a sense of healthy pride and intellectual trust in himself.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Parenting is a verb. That means you have to actually have to DO SOMETHING.

[tinroofer]

{Parenting is a verb. That means you have to actually have to DO SOMETHING.}

Oooo, I like it.

[kentuckykimmie]

i have seen this crap firsthand when my stepdaughter was in 7th grade. ironically, one of the same teachers i had was apparently in his last year of teaching and was her mechanical drawing ( an elective) teacher. she was an A-B student, which judging by the "no homework" policy the school had adopted and how easy and dumbed down everything was, that was no big feat. anyway, she had made a 40 on a test he had given and was all upset. apparently MANY parents were enraged as only ONE kid had passed the test. so, he held a special parent's meeting regarding the test in question. i had always liked that teacher and was sad to see he looked so worn down and frustrated, that when i walked into that room i hardly recognized him.

anyway, he faced the angry mob by starting with handing out a copy of the actual test. i have never taken a mechanical drawing class, but just skimming over the MULTIPLE CHOICE questions and the possible answers, i was quite certain i could have passed it. he told the group that he did not know what else to do. he said he had given each and every student an actual COPY OF THE TEST, but without the answers, and told them to read the assigned chapters and get their own answers. see, GENERALLY these "study sheets" the teachers had been giving out also had the correct answers filled in as well, and he was just trying to make them do some thinking and actual learning, on their own.

he offerred to give out the exact test ONE MORE TIME, but refused to give them the answers. parents were OUTRAGED that he wouldn't give them the answers. he told us that they had a WEEK to look up the answers and ask about them in class, but they had not the first time. i raised my hand and told him that if he had given out sample tests back when i had him as a teacher, i could not IMAGINE not making a 100 on that test and that this was absurd and that MY kid would be passing the test this next time and i got up and left with her. the rest of the parents were still in there whining to him to give out the answers as well as the questions. he finally caved under the parental pressure and my step daughter came home later that week with the answer key to "study".

guess what? EVEN WITH those idiot kids having the actual test WITH the answers for a whole week, over 20% STILL failed. our public schools, and many of the private ones, are an absolute joke. i feel very very sorry for any teacher who is stuck in that system.

[preraph]

I can't believe it's even legal to give out test answers before the test, but I know it's being done, especially on the big TAS and all that kind of tests. No one is learning anything. If I was a parent, I'd be livid, but instead most of them are mad if their kids are expected to learn anything.

[kentuckykimmie]

preraph said:

I can't believe it's even legal to give out test answers before the test, but I know it's being done, especially on the big TAS and all that kind of tests. No one is learning anything. If I was a parent, I'd be livid, but instead most of them are mad if their kids are expected to learn anything.

you are exactly right. they couldn't care less if their kids learn, at least not the ones i have known when i was living like an imposter, not by choice, in the world of the childed as a step parent. they only care about the grades rather than how they were attained. it's all about how they are perceived by others by having a child who makes good grades. while i didn't ask for the job of full time mommy, and i hated every single minute of it, i was had that job for a few years and i did the absolute best i could which means i actively parented.

the one good thing about that experience is that when the childed say i don't understand because i never had children, i always bring that fact up. i DID essentially raise someone else's child for much of her formative years and i DO understand because i have been there, done it, and have a freaking t-shirt.

[preraph]

Yeah, you have cred, Kimmie. And I notice there's a lot of people on the board who had to babysit a lot when young, and that seems like the reason a lot decide they don't want to have kids.

[kentuckykimmie]

preraph said:

Yeah, you have cred, Kimmie. And I notice there's a lot of people on the board who had to babysit a lot when young, and that seems like the reason a lot decide they don't want to have kids.

i entered that hell right around the time it was either crap or get off the pot regarding the final decision to remain childfree. that stint i endured as a parent nailed the coffin shut on any stray idea that may have lurked in the dark recesses of my mind that remaining childfree was the right choice for me. what sorry excuses for bioligical parents that poor child had. even though she was a pretty good kid for the most part, i still resented having to raise her and NO, it would NOT "....be different had she been my own". if my mother had said that one more time to me during all of that i believe i would have hanged myself.

[Karlita]

And I've got another one to tell:

Today is my husband's birthday. In order to surprise him, since his birthday happened to fall on a weekend, I decided to do the whole gift, cake, balloon, fun bit yesterday and save the grown up day around town for today.

So as I was at our local party supply store picking up some balloons, this woman was frantically searching for matching mylar balloons for her son's birthday party. "Don't you have any more of these?!? Your website says you do!" God forbid the kid not get 4 freakin' soccor ball balloons. I'm getting my two "Birthday King" balloons taken care of when she asks me,

"So are those for your son?"
"No - they're for my husband. His birthday is tomorrow but I want to surprise him when he gets home from work this afternoon."
"Oh. Why not just surprise him on his actual birthday? My son's a leap year baby and we're glad he finally gets a birthday party that's on his actual birthday."
"Well you didn't celebrate on his 'actual birthday' for the last three years and apparently it wasn't a big deal." And thankfully my balloons were done so I walked away.

You know, I don't really mind explaining myself to random people. However, when a random person feels the need to be critical about a sweet gesture to my husband, I will be rude right back. I don't know how this would relate to this woman being a lazy parent, but she was definitely an annoying one.

[preraph]

That would be kind of weird having your birthday on Leap Year. But probably the only reason she started up conversation is so she could yammer about her kid. I think if I had a leap year birthday, I'd have birthday on both the last day of the month and the 1st day of the next month on the years I didn't get one - just to get even with the universe!

[Karlita]

My brother-in-law's birthday is on leap year. We always joke that he's only 9 years old, but that's namely because he acts that way ... and he's got 3 kids. Yea.

[ruth59]

You know, I don't really mind explaining myself to random people. However, when a random person feels the need to be critical about a sweet gesture to my husband, I will be rude right back. I don't know how this would relate to this woman being a lazy parent, but she was definitely an annoying one.

She's one of those horrid, pitiful creatures who's allowed herself to lose all sense of adult passion, whimsy or spontaneity. What a drip.

[kentuckykimmie]

It's amazing what nosy strangers will use to start up a conversation just so they can go on and on about their kids or grandpups. This may be TMI, ;D, but i am practically addicted to baby butt wipes. I like the way they smell, and they make me feel cleaner than the "feminine" kind, and i use them to take make up off too. Anyway, on several occasions when i am in the baby aisle getting them invariably some woman will ask the dreaded question. " You got a new baby?". Depending on my mood, i generally say, "No, i just like these myself", and smile at them and go on my merry way. However, sometimes they don't even act as if they heard me, because the question about "my" baby wasn't their motive. The start going on and on and on about their baby or grandpup.

Sometimes i am tempted to say, "Yes, and i left him alone in the car with the windows up ( or down, depending on the weather) , so i better get going before the cops show up,.. again".

[tinroofer]

LOL!

I had to go to Babys R Us to get a gate for my senior dog to keep him from going up the stairs. I wanted the hands-free one with the foot pedal and needed it ASAP so I ventured out into the fray. OMG!
Random people and staff were asking how old my little bundle of joy was. I told them the gate for a 9 yr old...then they looked puzzled. I then clarified it was for a 9 yr old DOG. Some of them didn't get it. One even looked at my tummy then asked when I was due. Holy crap! I'm not THAT chunky.
Then there was the lady in front of me in the checkout line. She had 2 small children, twins it looked like, and was also about 11 months along. Kids screaming, her ignoring it and everyone else looking adoringly at the 2 terrors. I wanted to toss my cookies.
I was sooo happy to get out. Run away....run away......
Now, putting the gate together was a whole other adventure but it is done. The dog ignores it, the cat refuses to jump it and demands it be opened for him. What a little punk. He'll cry for a good 45 min then just squeeze through when we don't open it. Hahaha.

[kentuckykimmie]

tinroofer said:

LOL!

I had to go to Babys R Us to get a gate for my senior dog to keep him from going up the stairs. I wanted the hands-free one with the foot pedal and needed it ASAP so I ventured out into the fray. OMG!
Random people and staff were asking how old my little bundle of joy was. I told them the gate for a 9 yr old...then they looked puzzled. I then clarified it was for a 9 yr old DOG. Some of them didn't get it. One even looked at my tummy then asked when I was due. Holy crap! I'm not THAT chunky.
Then there was the lady in front of me in the checkout line. She had 2 small children, twins it looked like, and was also about 11 months along. Kids screaming, her ignoring it and everyone else looking adoringly at the 2 terrors. I wanted to toss my cookies.
I was sooo happy to get out. Run away....run away......
Now, putting the gate together was a whole other adventure but it is done. The dog ignores it, the cat refuses to jump it and demands it be opened for him. What a little punk. He'll cry for a good 45 min then just squeeze through when we don't open it. Hahaha.

[/b]

THAT IS SO FUNNY! I have one of those doors on my bathroom leading to the shower that is opened by bending it in the middle where it's held together by some sort of screws. Anyway, my cats have NO problem sqeezing through it and even getting it open with a claw to get in, but the minute i am naked in the running shower, they stand at the door and yowl, as if they are "trapped". They will sometimes stand there looking up at it and yelling to be released by me when i know they could get through.

[Karlita]

A friend of mine had a polydactyl (sp?) cat that would open the bathroom door when you were in there. I guess she had a thing about closed doors or something, but she'd hang off any locked door and try to get it open.

[cjjess]

Ugh. I remember a message board I was on once, some moo went off on a rant about how teachers are sending home homework and it's the teachers job to teach the kid, NOT THE PARENTS JOB, and she even went as far as to say SHE DOESN"T KNOW HOW TO HELP HER KID with her homework because it's TOO HARD.

I flipped out on her and told her SHE is the one who should be doing the majority of the teaching when it comes to her children. Her child has all the resources she needs, she has the books and she can ask her teacher before or after class, and if mom doesn't know how to help SHE NEEDS TO LEARN.
Oh man, i'm getting riled up just thinking about it.

[Karlita]

You go, cjjess! I hope that woman finally realized that changing diapers and fixing meals isn't the extent of a mom's job description, but I know more than likely she didn't.