OK Hamilton teachers go on strike already

I never thought I would say this but I wish the teachers would just get it over with and go on strike.  I don't like how they are treating the students and parents at my kids’ school.  I know they are unhappy with the changes and rules being imposed on them but that does not make it ok to be petty to the kids.  The kids are not the enemy and should not be treated as such.  Fine don’t do the extras, that is your right but don’t stop doing the job and start treating the kids like crap.  If you don’t want to be there that much than go on strike now before anymore damage is done to our children. 

The vote was only last week and we can tell the difference in how our children are being treated in and out of the class.  Being rude to the parents is not going to help you!  If anything the people who could be your allies and support your actions are the very people you are pissing off.  To be blunt I don’t have much sympathy – you have a job – many people do not.  Many other people have had to make cut backs and changes to keep their jobs and still end up unemployed.  You deal with children and need to remember that how you treat them in your anger is going to stick with those kids long after your anger is gone. 

The funny part is that when I heard about the strike last week I was supportive, I could understand why you want to strike.  That is until teachers started to treat kids like crap.  Now I don’t care about the teachers or what they want, I care about what they are doing to the kids.  You don’t want to do your job, but still get paid for it and spend your time bitching about the whole thing– fine, get in the back of the line.  There are people without jobs, trying to feed their kids and keep a roof over their heads – they don’t need your crap on top of that.  They would like a job, any job at this point.  You want to belly ache about how hard your jobs are, be glad you have one and a paycheque to go with it.  Things are tight everywhere – don’t like it go on strike and stop taking it out on our kids!

Time for school again

I don’t know if I am happy or sad that summer is over. We did not do any of the things we planned. Instead we spent the first part of the summer getting over really bad sunburns. We never went back to the beach this summer. We planned to go almost every weekend. It took us a month to heal from the burn we got from one day in the sun. We over did it, and our summer paid for it. We thought we would go places and do things this year. Instead we struggled to pay our bills and did very little.

Now school is about to start, in a couple of days, and we look back at all we did not do. It makes me sad that we did not do much. Lucky for the kids they went to summer day camp and did trips every week. They did lots and did not really notice what we did not do as a family. I think they were just glad to be home and relax on the weekends. We are actually giving them the last week of the summer off of summer camp. They like spending time with us, but we want to make sure they have other children to play with.

Now they are going to be going to school, a difficult thing for our son, and a fun time for our daughter. I am not sure I am ready for the struggles I know are to come. The demand of homework alone is a battle I don’t wish to take on. I know that every day I will have to fight with my son to get him to do his homework. Often he fights me over his homework. He hates school work and homework even more.

He gets picked on by other students and does not like going to school. School work is difficult for him. He has ADHD and an unnamed language based learning disability. We think he may have dyslexia. Overall school is not a fun time for him.

My daughter on the other hand has fun at school. She is a typical student having good and bad days. She gets along with others but tends to be a follower, not a leader. She will be ok with the other kids. So far she seems to be an average student. I am sure she will be fine as long as we work with her, and make sure she does her homework.

I worry that we are not able to do enough for him, and are not doing enough for her. We can only do so much and hope we are doing enough. I just feel anxious. I want them both to have the best opportunities and I am not sure they have. I worry that my son will again have a poor teacher, unequipped and unwilling to work with a child that does not fit the normal behavior pattern. The last couple teachers he had actually made things worse, only the E.A. took the time to understand and help him and the other children stuck in this women’s class.

I worry that I don’t do enough for my daughter because she is fine and my son needs lots of help. I know she acts out to get more attention sometimes. I hope that she does not act out in school to try and get more attention.

Most parents seem to be happy when their children go to school. All I can think about is how difficult this school year may be. Both children have teachers new to the school. I am hoping that this will give both my kids a fresh unbiased teacher who will give them a chance.