Lack of healthy boundaries hurts us all
KAMLOOPS — A few days ago, I read about a teacher in the Chilcotin being suspended for one week and being sent to a course on how to create a positive environment in the classroom. The points on which she was being disciplined had to do with her allegedly abusive behaviour. My sons are school-age; my youngest is still homeschooled but also meeting once a week with a group of homeschoolers under the care of a teacher, while his brother, my eldest is in a public high school.
I have always been of the opinion that children have to be treated with respect, period. That does not mean always allowing them to do what they want. It means simply that; respect. Listening to them, caring for their needs, hearing them when they have concerns, which among others means hearing them when they say we are doing the exact things we tell them not to do. As much as we want to impose the view that children must listen to us, no matter what, truth is they will learn best from our behaviour.
The teacher in question, while I do not know anything more about her but what I read from that report, has been described as an angry person with little control over her actions. I would not, by any means, allow my children to be in the presence of someone who will abuse them. That being said, I am a parent and though I love my children to the moon and back (not because of that lanky adorable bunny parent figure from the ‘Guess how much I love you’ kids book,) I know that I sometimes got so very upset with them and anyone looking from the outside would have likely judged harshly.
Many readers opinionated that she should be criminally charged and made to pay for how she treats those children. A reccurring issue deserves close observing, and more so when there are people involved. A question begs to be asked though, not just in the case of this teacher, but other teachers, educators and people who get to deal with our children, is this: are our children behaving respectfully and recognizing boundaries when they are being enforced?