It is only week 2 and I've already gotten yelled (and by "yelled" I mean, "spoken firmly to") by a parent. The night was going really well, during handbook time several girls had their verses memorized and were able to pass some sections. In order to do that they have to say their verses to me well enough that I can tell they have it memorized - I gave a little help here and there, but honestly, if they have it memorized than they shouldn't need a whole lot of prompting. At dismissal, when all the kids were being picked up, the mother of one of the girls in my group pulled me aside and started talking about how her daughter is always the last to get to recite her verses, and it happened ALL LAST YEAR, she is ready to say the verse but she has to wait SO LONG that she forgets it.
First of all, if you forget the verse in the 3 minutes it takes me to get to you, you don't have it memorized. Second of all, I was going in order of who said they were ready - so if 3 girls say they are ready, and then this girl says she is ready, is this lady expecting me to skip over the first 3 and listen to her daughter first? Of course I couldn't say any of that because we were in church, so I just apologized for last year, explained that I was new this year and I would sure do my best to make sure all the girls were treated fairly.
The more I think about it the angrier I get - Why didn't I think of something better to say? Why was this lady on my case the second night of the year? Why is this little girl using me as an excuse for not knowing her verses? Because, believe me, she did not know her verses! Anyway, I am sending the girl a little postcard today that reminds her that I can listen to her verses at other times, like before AWANA starts, during dismissal, after games, etc. I will do my best to make sure she is listened to, but I can't see myself ignoring the other girls just to focus on her, which is kind of what her mom was asking me to do.
This is why I don't like kids!
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3 comments:
This is why we BOTH don't like kids, b/c of the stupid parents that can't raise them right and then we have to suffer for it!!!! Grrrr. Sounds like you did right for the first confrontation - if she continues to push you (the mom I mean) then I'd just pass her off to the head of the Awana's - no reason for you to have to suffer! Sounds like you had an interesting evening... :-P
It's the parents that you ultimately don't like. They are pushy and often ignorant when they think their kid is the BEST. Maybe next week you should seek her out early and ask her to receit them to you. When she isn't able to, tell the mom that you allowed her precious daughter to go first and she didn't know her verses. Just a thought, from a mom that tries really hard to NOT be that way. BTW, you handled it very, very well.
:-)Brenda
Good point Brenda, a lot of the times it is the parents I dislike!
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