Many parents today are known for enabling their children. It’s okay to want to give your child the world. However, you also have to give them the space and time to figure out things on their own. Sometimes, the effects of parental enablement follow children into school. A Florida teacher said she is dealing with one of the most enabling parents ever. She shares, for every parent, what not to do when you’re raising your child.
Ms. Destinee (@kingdesee) shared a TikTok video regarding a child in her classroom who’s been enabled one too many times. She said that this child doesn’t complete his work and leaves the classroom without permission. When Destinee confronted his mother about his actions, it was thrown back in her face. The mother demanded, “So that means you don’t know where he is?!” as if it were Destinee’s fault. The mother then told Destinee to let him leave the classroom even if he didn’t have permission.
Destinee became increasingly irritated by the mother’s responses. After several other calls, she made up more excuses for her son. She would tell Destinee, “You probably didn’t explain the material good enough and he was confused so he left.” Another popular excuse was, “He probably needed your help and you weren’t paying attention to him.” Because it’s always the teacher’s fault and not the child acting out, right? Maybe so, to the most enabling parent. His parent also said that a special room could be designated to him during school as a safe area for him. Yeah, sure.
It sounds outlandish on paper, but others have experienced the same as both teachers and parents of students. One person shared, “My daughter switched to online school her junior year because she said over the majority of her classroom time was spent just sitting there while the teacher dealt with the ‘class clowns.’” She went on to say that “she was frustrated she couldn’t learn Spanish because the lessons couldn’t get finished.” Another commenter suggested, “She’s going to enable him right into living in her basement forever.” Point blank – if a child needs help, a parent needs to ensure they get that help. However, you must ensure that the disruptions do not cost a teacher their valuable time with the other children.
