Frustration in and out of the classroom

As teachers we are going to be dealing non-stop with things frustrating us.  I'm going to tell a little story.  I have two children that are constantly going at each other: tattling, pushing, bothering, etc.  It finally reached the point where I had to contact both of their parents.  I think dealing with the parents was the more frustrating experience than the children.

I see sometimes it is almost as if parents do not want to deal with the children's behavior at home, and there is only so much I can do as a teacher.  What I think is something we need to work on is making sure that parents are aware of the expectations we have inside our classroom.  They also need to be aware that we hope the parents are supportive of our efforts for good behavior.  When we teach and instruct behavior we hope that it will trail out of the classroom we need to ensure that parents will be helpful on the other end.

This process will never be easy.  Many parents are full time employees and will only see their kids for a few hours in a day, and that time will be spent most likely, more recreational rather than instructional.

I think in all this we need to find a balance.  Dealing with the frustration of not being supported outside the classroom and the frustration of dealing with the issues inside the classroom.  Eventually we should be able to find a solution, but it will not be easy.