[blparent] Parent report cards?

[Kate McEachern]

I can understand that they want parent invalvment but to be fair we don't 
all have extra time working from home or out.  I make use of the time we 
have and plan meanningful weekend day trips or do something speashel when I 
have a few days off.  One modle doesn't work for all but it seams as my kids 
get older there is moreunaform ways of doing things.  I don't remember 
parents in the 80s being as strung out as we are but I was like 8 so maybe I 
didn't see it.

Kate
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jo Elizabeth Pinto" <jopinto at msn.com>
To: "Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2012 5:45 PM
Subject: Re: [blparent] Parent report cards?


>I agree.  There are two parents in the house for Sarah, but I'm in kind of 
>a unique and often difficult situation because I'm trying to work from home 
>out of necessity and give Sarah the attention she needs at the same time. 
>It went fairly well when she was younger, but it's getting to be a struggle 
>as she wants, and deserves, more and more of my focus.  Plus then there's 
>cooking and laundry, and I seem to be the only one who knows how to put 
>stuff in the dishwasher, turn it on, and take the clean dishes out again. 
>So I understand, I would probably toss the report card, good or bad, on a 
>pile of "I'll get to it someday" paperwork, and think where I'd like to 
>tell the school to put it if I could.
>
> Jo Elizabeth
>
> "How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, 
> compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant 
> of the weak and the strong.  Because someday in life you will have been 
> all of these."--George Washington Carver, 1864-1943, American scientist
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Kate McEachern" <kflsouth at gmail.com>
> Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2012 3:32 PM
> To: "Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [blparent] Parent report cards?
>
>> I don't like this either, what about single parents who don't have the 
>> time for activities every night and don't always have the lluchery of 
>> time to birn?  I think people should parent how they can make it work. 
>> For me, I have had to let my kids play video games rather then have me 
>> sit with them because I have no one else to do the laundry, or cook, or 
>> the other things that to most require two parents.  I won't be responding 
>> to any parent report cards if my kid sends it my way there is just too 
>> much to do.
>> Kate
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Erin Rumer" <erinrumer at gmail.com>
>> To: "'Jo Elizabeth Pinto'" <jopinto at msn.com>; "'Blind Parents Mailing 
>> List'" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2012 1:53 PM
>> Subject: Re: [blparent] Parent report cards?
>>
>>
>>>I don't agree with the parent report card either, but it's a sad time 
>>>when
>>> parents are so uninvolved as a whole that this is even being considered. 
>>> I
>>> know of lots of parents like myself who are involved a ton with their
>>> children, providing them both quality and quantity time, but so many 
>>> folks
>>> load themselves with more to do in a day than there are hours that the 
>>> kids
>>> get the shaft.  I think that community involvement is fabulous and key 
>>> in a
>>> child's development, but family time needs to come first before soccer
>>> practice, dance class, piano lessons and so much more that parents are
>>> running their kids to something nearly on a nightly basis.  I say 
>>> depending
>>> on the age of the child they should have no more than 2 extracurricular
>>> activities at one time on average in order to fit in that quality family
>>> time.  There are so many of us busting our humps to do all we can for 
>>> our
>>> kids but there are also lots of parents who are on survival mode
>>> continuously and allowing their kids to eat in front of the television
>>> instead of talking as a family and playing video games all the time to 
>>> keep
>>> them occupied.  This is why such ridiculous ideas like the parent report
>>> card even come up.  Lots of parents are acting like kids, so the 
>>> government
>>> is wanting to treat them as such.  Behavior aside though, who are they 
>>> to
>>> say what's good enough.  I'll turn to much better resources and 
>>> mentoring
>>> than the government for parenting advice, thank you very much!
>>>
>>> Erin
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] 
>>> On
>>> Behalf Of Jo Elizabeth Pinto
>>> Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2012 10:33 AM
>>> To: NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List
>>> Subject: [blparent] Parent report cards?
>>>
>>> Who's judging whom? Parent report card proposal stirs debate
>>>
>>> There's a movement afoot for teachers to start issuing report cards... 
>>> on
>>> parents! How would you feel about being graded by your child's teacher? 
>>> One
>>> Florida state lawmaker is proposing just that. NBC Education 
>>> Correspondent
>>> Rehema Ellis reported the story for TODAY, and it got her thinking about 
>>> her
>>> own parental participation.
>>>
>>>
>>> NBC News Correspondent Rehema Ellis
>>>
>>> By Rehema Ellis, NBC correspondent
>>>
>>> As I researched this story, it made me think about my own family. I 
>>> asked
>>> myself, would I mind being graded as a parent?
>>>
>>> All my son's life -- he's 8 years old now and in the second grade --  
>>> I've
>>> embraced the notion that my school days are starting anew. Of course, 
>>> the
>>> big difference now is that I'm in the teacher/tutor role. I make him
>>> breakfast every morning and sit down with him. I read all the school 
>>> notices
>>> and frequently communicate with his teachers and the school. There's a 
>>> big
>>> payoff: I know how he's doing in school and his report card has never 
>>> been a
>>> surprise. (And I should add, he's doing really well in school.)
>>>
>>> So, based on my involvement in my son's school life, I think I'd get a
>>> pretty good parent report card. Still, I got to thinking: What kind of 
>>> grade
>>> would I get if I missed a few school notices or didn't check all of his
>>> homework? It could happen, because as we all know parenting isn't easy.
>>> Parents, especially those who work outside of the home, have long days 
>>> on
>>> the job, often exhausting commutes, and frequent challenges to keep the
>>> house in order AND keep an eye on what's happening in their child's 
>>> school.
>>>
>>> Susan Rayburn, the principal at Lincoln Elementary School in Plant City,
>>> Fla., told me that grading could jump-start involvement from parents who 
>>> are
>>> not actively engaged in their child's education. But she also cautioned 
>>> that
>>> if not handled properly, the parent report card could be a turnoff. Some
>>> parents could feel intimidated, she said. If the bill passes in the 
>>> Florida
>>> legislature, Rayburn said she hopes teachers use the parent report card 
>>> "as
>>> a tool for partnership versus a 'gotcha.' "
>>>
>>> She makes a great point. After all, the ultimate goal is to help 
>>> children do
>>> better in school. If the parent report card is used, as she says, to
>>> "showcase what parents are doing and then help bridge that gap for what 
>>> they
>>> are not doing," everyone's grades would improve ... kids AND parents.
>>>
>>>
>>> I read the article online and decided to post it for an idea to chew on.
>>>
>>> Personally, I think the idea sucks rocks.  Most parents, including me, 
>>> are
>>> hard enough on themselves, and now to be judged by teachers as well?  No
>>> thanks!
>>>
>>> The idea is also dangerous, in my opinion.  If teachers start issuing 
>>> report
>>> cards based on parental involvement and student progress, the next step 
>>> is
>>> for the government to take action against the parents that don't, in the
>>> opinion of teachers, measure up.  What happens to the parents who don't
>>> pass?  Or the average ones who get C's?  Will the government have the 
>>> right
>>> to step in and force them to improve their "grades"?  Bad idea.
>>>
>>> I do believe parents should be involved with the education of their
>>> children, and I don't believe it's all up to the teachers.  My sister
>>> teaches in public school, and I've heard the stories about hard times in 
>>> the
>>> classroom with no parental backup, and adversarial relationships between
>>> parents and teachers over who is at fault when kids don't thrive, or 
>>> when
>>> they get in trouble.  So I support teachers wholeheartedly, but I 
>>> wouldn't
>>> want to be graded by them on my parenting skills and philosophies, any 
>>> more
>>> than they would probably not like me to send them a report card on their
>>> teaching habits and expertise.
>>>
>>> Jo Elizabeth
>>>
>>> "How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young,
>>> compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant 
>>> of
>>> the weak and the strong.  Because someday in life you will have been all 
>>> of
>>> these."--George Washington Carver, 1864-1943, American scientist
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> blparent mailing list
>>> blparent at nfbnet.org
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
>>> blparent:
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/kflsouth%40gmail.com
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> blparent mailing list
>> blparent at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
>> blparent:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/jopinto%40msn.com
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> blparent mailing list
> blparent at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> blparent:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/kflsouth%40gmail.com