Teach Primary 18.8

The author is a teacher in England. VO I C E S What’s wrong with teaching your own child? Negative perceptions around being both parent and teacher to your children are undeserved W hat?! You’ve taught your own kids?!” If I had a pound for every time I’ve heard this, usually with a look of horror emblazoned across the exclaimer’s face, I’d be pretty rich by now... Yes, I’ve taught my own children – all three of them in fact – and despite the situation’s challenges (and there have been a few) I wouldn’t change the experience for the world. I’m always surprised by the negativity people seem to direct at this situation. Don’t get me wrong, I know all children are different, and parent/child relationships differ greatly, but for me and my children it worked. Contrary to common belief (particularly on the parent playground), teaching one’s own children doesn’t mean they get to choose the story every day, receive the most house points, get chosen for all the special jobs, play the star role in the nativity or win all the class competitions. In my experience, the opposite happens; I was probably a little too hard on my children for fear of being accused of favouritism. I didn’t want people to think I was giving special attention to them. As class teacher, as well as parent of a pupil, there is a careful and trickly balancing act to play. On the one hand you want your child to fit in with their peers and to detach from the family bond, but on the other, they are still your baby. It’s hard for both the parent/ teacher and the child in this sense and does take a little bit of getting used to. We found regular chats outside of the classroom and the school day, in the comfort of home, helped us manage the situation and establish routines and expectations. Indeed, sharing Mummy with 29 other pupils is a unique and challenging situation to be in, and it’s unrealistic to expect a young child to sail through it without any hiccups. I was lucky to have the support of an amazing TA while teaching my children’s classes. She always knew when to step in to support, especially when certain circumstances occurred where emotions could come into play. I was able to stand aside and let her handle situations such as friendship fallouts or upsets – times when it was hard to detach from that mother/child bond. She was also able to recognise when my child was behaving for me as their mum rather than their teacher, and would magically swoop in to intervene. As teachers, we’re often told to reflect on our teaching and our classroom environments using the question ‘Would I be happy if my child was in this class?’. Well, I was in this situation and yes, I was happy. I loved having my children experience my creative approach to teaching, feeding off my enthusiasm for diverse, rich children’s books and learning in the beautiful, purposeful space I’d created. As a conscientious teacher (with a bit of a perfectionist nature) I always want this for any child in my care, but teaching my own children gave me that extra drive and boost to deliver. I do think other parents recognised this too. They took comfort in the knowledge that I was delivering lessons and experiences that I was happy for my children to be receiving. I will forever be grateful that I got to spend a whole year teaching each of my own children. I experienced so many situations with them, and shared so many memories that others aren’t lucky enough to do. I was present for every school moment, every success and every milestone. I’m glad I was Mrs Mummy (yes, it was their choice to call me this) and my children – now grown – share equally positive memories of this time together too. TP “Teaching one’s own children doesn’t mean they get to choose the story every day” www.teachwire.net | 21