I have had two situations in the last month, where parents have completely ignored what their child is doing, or how they are treating others. I had to cancel an event last night because a student signed up with a group of friends, and did not tell their parents or bother to show up. When I called to ask if the kid was coming, I got hung up on. Then, when I asked the kid to be in better communication with their parents and to cancel ahead of time next time, I got reamed.
Okay, even reading this, it seems like I'm over reacting, because the kid you are probably thinking of while reading this, is the exact opposite of who this happened to. This is a church going family, strongly involved, and a family that I considered myself to be close to. I try to support the family every day, and am in good communication with the parents. The parents have told me that they don't want their kid to go on the mission trip, so when the kid kept trying to sign up, I continued to tell them to talk to their parents. So, last night I sent an email to the student, asking them to talk to their parents ahead of time next time, because it is important to be in communication with them, I was shocked to get this phone call to word bash me today.
I just don't even know how to handle it right now. The parent almost hung up on me again, before I could explain what actually happened. Thankfully by the grace of God, they listened to the truth of the stories, rather than the side they had made up. But unfortunately, I am not sure that they actually heard, or know that I have been supporting them all along.
So, what do you do when it really is the kid who is muddling up the communication. Do you stop communicating with that kid? Because obviously, the parents think something else is going on.
I don't know.
All I can say is that this really sucks right now! 2 kids, one month.
I guess I'm great at this job.
or not.
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