WHEN LIFE GETS TOUGH: FOR TEACHERS Your spouse is out of work. The car is making funny noises. Your preschooler’s daycare center has warned of a virus going around. And you have to take a bus to your school-job in freezing rain, to spend the day in close quarters with twenty children still antsy from winter break. How does a teacher keep going when Murphy’s Law seems out to get you, inside … [Read more...] about WHEN LIFE GETS TOUGH: FOR TEACHERS
A PARENT’S GUIDE TO PLANNING
A PARENT’S GUIDE TO PLANNING If you always planned things to the millisecond, chances are becoming a parent cured some of that. Even if you’re blessed with a child who himself has a natural passion for planning, his idea of the perfect get-up time or the perfect extracurricular activity won’t necessarily suit your predetermined convenience. Your job description as a parent … [Read more...] about A PARENT’S GUIDE TO PLANNING
KEEPING THE GOOD IN “FOR THEIR OWN GOOD”
KEEPING THE GOOD IN “FOR THEIR OWN GOOD” Everyone hates having things done “for their own good.” Even our pets object to being plunged into flea baths or dragged to the vet—and while they forgive us quickly, that doesn’t stop them from putting up the same struggle the next time. They sense we have their best interests at heart, but they still don’t understand why we have to do it this … [Read more...] about KEEPING THE GOOD IN “FOR THEIR OWN GOOD”
PRINCIPLE VS. EXPEDIENCY
PRINCIPLE VS. EXPEDIENCY How often have you heard this story through neighborhood gossip, social media, or the official news? Someone, who for years urged others to “do what’s right no matter how difficult,” has done exactly what he advised everyone else never to do. The family-values advocate runs off with his secretary. The honesty proponent is caught with her hand in the till. And everyone … [Read more...] about PRINCIPLE VS. EXPEDIENCY
A TEACHER’S GUIDE TO DEALING WITH DEFENSIVE PARENTS
A TEACHER’S GUIDE TO DEALING WITH DEFENSIVE PARENTS A teacher’s worse nightmare isn’t usually a problem student; it’s often a problem parent. Sooner or later, you’re likely to meet some version of the father who threatened to sue over a 99 percent score versus 100 percent. Or some version of the mother who insisted regarding her “very sensitive child,” “Never discipline him directly; he’d be … [Read more...] about A TEACHER’S GUIDE TO DEALING WITH DEFENSIVE PARENTS