This weeks blog is inspired by a post I saw on facebook entitled “Do you know where your child is?” It was from the local police in the area where my school is, and basically asking for parental support in ensuring a safe environment for everyone. The premise was around parents taking responsibility for keeping their children safe by knowing where they are and setting clear boundaries. The article talks about dealing with 15-16 year old children at 22:30 at night. I am going to use the word children here, as at the age of 15-16 these young individuals are still children, yes young adults, but maybe shouldn’t be out and about at 22:30pm.
As a parent, I would never dream of allowing my girls to be roaming the streets at 10:30 at night or if they were I would have to know who they were with, where they were going and what time they were due home. Basic parenting. In addition to this, and I know maybe controversial, on their phones, the apple, Find my Phone, is enabled. This meant I could always know where they were. It has come in handy many times. To ensure solidarity, both my husband and I are also on it, so the girls can always see where we are too. In fact, it is still enabled for our youngest daughter, hubby and me. Unfortunately, we can’t do it any more for our eldest due to her job.
Now I can here those saying, that is invasion of privacy, against my human rights, etc, however, I need to remind parents, that unless the contract is in your child’s name and is being paid for by your child, the phone is legally yours. Therefore, I don’t see the argument. In fact, anything that happens on that phone is the legal responsibility of the bill payer, so it is probably in your interest to take a close look at what your child is doing with it. I digress. Having the ability to see where your child is at any time is really useful. The relationship you have with your child is really important. I have always said that it is a safety thing not and invasion of privacy or for checking up, but that I can help if needed.
As a teacher, if find that for some parents as soon as they send their child to school, it somehow becomes the responsibility of the school to take over teaching, well everything it seems. I see so many posts bemoaning schools, saying why don’t they teach that at school. Well two points, we actually teach a hell of lot to our students that is beyond the basic curriculum that schools are expected to teach. How to stay safe, sex education, the impact of drug abuse, what a healthy relationship looks like, how to manage your money, what is tax .. I could go on. I remember being asked by a student why don’t I teach about TAX. My reply was we do, but also why have some of these fundamental skills been transported from being taught at home to being taught at school. As a parent I would discuss these things with my daughters and not expect them to learn about it at school. The purpose of school and specialist teachers is to teach children about the bigger picture, the specialist skills that they will need in their adult life that they may not get from home. I know about the “When will I ever need this?” question. The answer to which is I don’t know and that’s the point. I have a group of 30 odd students in front of me and I don’t know if any of them are going to need what I am teaching, so I teach them a broad range of skills because they may need them.
I suppose what I am saying that it is everyone’s responsibility to educate and keep our children safe. Not just the police or school but also parents.
If you are wondering about the picture of Teddy, I just thought it would make you smile.
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