How to Handle a Bad Teacher

There’s always that one. The teacher you’ve been warned about. The one you have been told “you do not want.”

Then comes registration day, and you find your child’s name on “that teacher’s” roster. What do you do?

For many of us another school year is already underway. Hard to believe, yet here we go again. How are those new teachers? How about those classmates?

Whether your school year is in full swing or you are frantically trying to squeeze the last bits of fun out of your summer, I want to let you in on how we prepare our kids for the uncertainty of registration day and beginning again with an unfamiliar teacher and possibly unknown classmates.

But before we move on please allow me a moment to pull out my soapbox…it’s never far from reach!

It used to be the kids were the ones warning each other of the “mean teacher”. Anymore, it seems it’s parents doing the warning.

Can I just say, on behalf of my sister (a 2nd grade teacher in KY) and many other wonderful teachers everywhere…The teachers need our support! Our kids will never respect a teacher they hear us talking bad about.

Yes, there are a few bad apples out there (cheesy pun, I know), but let’s be more cautious to model respecting authority for our kids.

Okay, thank you. Climbing down. Now, on to the topic at hand…

We firmly believe everything happens for a reason. Without exception, we hold that God is in complete control and has a plan for everything that happens in life. We don’t believe He causes bad stuff to happen to us. Fact is, we live in a messed up world where people often make some pretty poor choices which inevitably impact our lives. That being said, we know without a doubt that God can take even the worst of circumstances and use them for our good if we will allow Him to.

So what does this have to do with school starting back?

Year after year I see parents rushing the front office in the first few weeks of the school year. Though it may come in varying forms, the request is often the same. They are asking (sometimes demanding) to change classrooms because their child does not like the teacher to which he has been assigned.

PLEASE…if this is something you are considering, I hope you will pause and think it through before you act.

As our kids get bigger, so will their problems and challenges. I encourage you to embrace these early struggles as the gifts which they have the potential to be. Use these as perfect, real-life opportunities to impart the necessary people skills and strength of character which make for well adjusted, purpose driven, world-changers.

If instead of rescuing our kids from every uncomfortable situation, we teach them to cope and do so with a good attitude, we will be having a lasting impact as we equip confident, capable adults.

Now, there are exceptions to every rule. If your child ends up with a teacher who is verbally abusive, and you feel a change is necessary for guarding his/her heart and in order to preserve his/her emotional health, then by all means, take action. However, a conflict in personalities is not a red flag signaling the need to jump ship. Rather, this is the perfect training ground on which to prepare our kids for dealing with a variety of people and differences of opinion in the “real world.”

The day will come when they do not get to choose their boss. Either they learn to work with different personalities, or they end up back under our roofs blaming everyone but themselves.

If this school year has not gotten off to a great start, no worries. There’s still time. Have a heart to heart with your kiddo about how you can make the best out of a less than ideal situation. No doubt there is plenty both you and your child can learn in the process.

Encourage your kiddos with this scripture from Jeremiah 29:11-13,

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.”

Should your child find himself in a class with a difficult teacher, the school bully, or just one of those really annoying kids (Hey, you know they’re out there!), click over to my YouTube channel for a really practical tip that will have a massive impact on your child’s classroom experience. All you need is your toothpaste, a piece of paper, a pen and some tape.

Wishing you all a safe and awesome 2018-2019 session!