| What happen? Should? Parenting Classes be taught in public school?
Posted: 3/12/2008 8:42:30 AM | Okay, as you read through the news everyday there are 1,000's of parents doing the most insane things to their OWN children.
No not out and out abuse, but plain stupid,harmful, lack of judgment actions. Ones my 6 y.o. daughter would say.."Dad, that's bad"
This coupled with the teen pregnancies ( and multiple pregnancies )....
Should all schools be required to have a SERIOUS .Parenting class?? Does/did your school have one?
When I was in the 7th grade we had a Home Ec. class. We learned about keeping a house, balancing a check book and savings. Were taught additional sex ed stuff. How to chage diapers, hold and feed babies. We got certified in CPR. One of our class projects was we all went to the store and had to buy enough food to feed a family of 4 for a week. We cooked meals. Learned to use a sewing machine, and just about every household appliance. The class was taught in a class room that was built like a house, with a kitchen,bedroom,washer/dryer, and all.
It was a required class for both boys and girls.
This class is no longer taught.
Anybody else have to take or offered a class like this when they went? Offered currently for your children? Should it be?
Thoughts?? | |
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| What happen? Should? Parenting Classes be taught in public school?
Posted: 3/12/2008 9:22:55 AM | | You ought to have to "qualify" before you are allowed to keep a child. There should be people who only have adoption as a choice; they should not be allowed to raise a child. The problem is we would NEVER be able to agree on what those "qualifications" should be because we all have vastly different ideas. Face it... in this country, we value cars and houses and other such possessions (and we restrict ownership of those kinds of things) more than we do children. It's very sad. | |
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| What happen? Should? Parenting Classes be taught in public school?
Posted: 3/12/2008 9:45:05 AM | | I think expecting a public school to teach this is too much. Parents now are always too quick to hand ther kids over to system to teach them right from wrong. If parents stepped up and raised their children with proper morals and values, taught them how to care for others, and modelled good parenting practices at home, they would not turn around and do idiotic things, particularily to their own children when they are grown. To me expecting school to teach parenting is the same as the number of parents who expect character education to be taught in schools without modelling the appropriate behaviour at home. | |
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| What happen? Should? Parenting Classes be taught in public school?
Posted: 3/12/2008 10:56:15 AM |
If parents stepped up and raised their children with proper morals and values, taught them how to care for others, and modeled good parenting practices at home, they would not turn around and do idiotic things, particularly to their own children when they are grown.
And just how do they do that when their own parents lacked and did all of the above to them?
Two of the hardest things we do in life - enter into a relationship and have children - we are never taught. It's all on the job training, or if your one of the fortunate few, you had parents like in the quote above to learn from. The biggest obstacle to school based education the OP speaks about is the parents themselves. Nobody wants someone else to tell them how to raise their kids. Do you? | |
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| What happen? Should? Parenting Classes be taught in public school?
Posted: 3/12/2008 11:37:11 AM | | Parenting and techniques for parenting have changed to radically over the past couple of decades, I'd think it would be worth a semester at least. People don't realize they just what an undertaking and responsibility having a kid is until after the fact. | |
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| What happen? Should? Parenting Classes be taught in public school?
Posted: 3/12/2008 11:59:06 AM | | I took a class where we actually had a daycare and we were assigned kids to care for. They were toddler aged kids..maybe 3 or 4..We took fake baby's home that cried until we fed them or changed them. We were taught what to cook for them and how to care for them. But it was mostly just fun. It's not enough. you get the see the fun side of it, even when your child is in a cranky mood you still only see the fun side of it. You play with them..feed them..send them back to mommy. I wasn't a teen mom, but I was still an unwed mom who was too young. I even took a parenting class after my son was born and it's crap. It teaches you the reality of nothing. You aren't better equipped or better prepared. The only way is to expirence it. we can teach and preach and show and copy the responsibilities all we want..but the only way to truly understand what it mean to be a parent is to become one.. the only people I know who even have a clue are the ones who helped raise their sibilings because mom and dad were out working. and even they don't understand the full financial responsibility of it. | |
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| What happen? Should? Parenting Classes be taught in public school?
Posted: 3/12/2008 12:17:54 PM | I took a parenting class in high school. It tought budgeting and how to deal with children at different ages/stages. Also the class gave statistics for both male and female single parents.
I do think a course like this could be offered because some parents really do mess up their children. That being said morality and parenting skills should be taught at home but maybe offer some clases in high school to maybe guide the poor kids who have parents who lack good morals. | |
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| What happen? Should? Parenting Classes be taught in public school?
Posted: 3/12/2008 12:18:22 PM | I had sex ed in elementary school, I think 5-6th grade. and home ec in junior high. It has slowly dropped. I think do to the stupid politically correct thing, you know moral values that some parents raise and perhaps school districts dropped the subject due to complaints from parents. It's also perhaps due to liability.
I think it should be taught, and when I hear some on here says that's the parents job, ya it should be, but you have to admit that teenagers wont' go to their parents for sexual questions. And if they do, they'll just get a vague answer, and just be told not to do it cuz it's not right, etc. That is not much of a deterrent if a teenager is curious. I think it's better to be openminded and the more teenagers know about risks, consequences , to be responsible, etc then the more knowledge they have getting into it. and if they do have an std, get their significant other pregnant, or be pregnant, then y ou as a parent can say they can hold themselves accountable for their actions rather than going into it with ignorance. If anything it would be a good ice breaker for teeangers to go to their parents and talk about sex, drugs, etc. And perhaps with home ec, where they have to do daycare, do bills will show them that it's a lot of work and they'll be more responsible in taking care of their future. | |
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| What happen? Should? Parenting Classes be taught in public school?
Posted: 3/12/2008 4:09:54 PM | There was a pretty intense parenting course at the high school my girls used to attend. I am not sure about the exact content of the course, but each student was assigned a "baby" for a week.
These electronic babies were quite amazing. They were life size / weight of approx a 3 month old. It came with car seat, baby carrier, clothes, bottle and diapers. The doll was programmed to behave like a real baby. It cried with great frequency and the student had to work out what it needed - ie, feeding, changing, holding.....and they had to continue ministering to it until the doll went back to sleep. The doll could require the student's constant attention when it was awake and it could take over 30 minutes before it slept again. The students had to be gentle and careful with the doll at all times too. Like a newborn, the doll could not hold it's head up and needed to held, moved, dressed etc., with the same care necessary for a real baby. Every action of the baby and reaction of the student was recorded as electronic data in the doll. This data was downloaded at the end of the week. The students had to look after their baby for a week, 24 hours a day - in class, on the bus, at the mall, at home, during a movie, and all night.
It was always obvious which students ha just finished a week with a baby as they were totally exhausted from broken sleep. I don't recall hearing of any student who wasn't overjoyed to hand the doll back at the end of the week. | |
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| What happen? Should? Parenting Classes be taught in public school?
Posted: 3/12/2008 5:40:24 PM | The key to your post Brandy is the if, if parents stepped up. They are not, and there is mounting statistical evidence that schools that teach character dramatically turn around even completely debilitated inner city schools so while you may want to continue to hope that these will be taught at home, I like the OP hope that they make this a mandatory class for graduation from high school.
We had home ec in middle school and probably high school as well. Home ec taught simple cooking, ironing, sewing, baking. In high school there was some type of health class or business or something because I remember these retarded films that were like the driver's ed, made a hundred years ago with total dorks starring, so you didn't really pay attention to the valuable information about protecting your credit and learning how to balance a checkbook.
We had some type of parenting or child development class. Students had to carry around an egg for X amount of time without breaking it and taking care of it and making sure it had proper care by other people during cheerleading, for example. They were supposed to get up every two hours at night to feed it. I think they also paired off and had mock marriages. My son had 'life skills' this year in 7th and will take it again in 8th but it is an elective, which means that only children that choose the class have benefit of the knowledge.
A friend ran into a high school buddy that had a full ride at Nebraska who told her that he and many other of the football players think that the life skills class was one of the most valuable that they took in high school because when they went away to college, they knew how to take care of themselves. Many parents do not realize that part of the ultimate goal of parenting is self-sufficiency and that the child does not become so from osmosis when he is pushed out of the nest.
As another poster mentioned two of the most important things one does is to make a long-term commitment/marriage and has children. There are questions that I just didn't think to ask myself and no one talked to me about the type of man I should choose as a husband or father to my children. Marriage and child-rearing is pretty much flying by the seat of your pants from day one, and I read, so of course I had subscriptions to parenting magazines, etc., pfft.
Many people really do not consider that with children they are pretty much attached for life even if the relationship does not work and again as the previous poster mentioned, what parents should do is not what many choose to do and the others have no clue that they are supposed to parent. They were raised to believe that providing food, clothing and a roof is the extent of the job. | |
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| What happen? Should? Parenting Classes be taught in public school?
Posted: 3/12/2008 7:07:34 PM | To expand on packagedeals post rather than teach responsiblity some are taught to just pay or expect the other parent to pay. We need to find ways to guide this generation so we can make up for some of the midtakes Generation X has made (as a group, not every single case) in raising children.
How do you tell someone that only knows parents fighting or thinking of one parent as either a ddeadbeat or a wallet that they need to stick around to raise a child without having some single parents groups "howling" about it is their right to do it that way?
Yes teach something in schools about family and life skills and budgeting. Morals and character would be great to..but who's morals would you teach that would not offend someone? | |
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| What happen? Should? Parenting Classes be taught in public school?
Posted: 3/12/2008 9:00:13 PM | That's a tough one... I think the schools should have a class. But I stand with being able to keep any type of firearm you want as long as you can pass a test like we take to drive a car.... To many parents now days send their children off to day care or they have latchkey kids... where is the guidance in that? I teach my boys the best that I can... they have a great support group with all the ants and uncles they have along with grandparents.... some are not so lucky....
Well there's my two cents.......... | |
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| What happen? Should? Parenting Classes be taught in public school?
Posted: 3/12/2008 10:08:25 PM | | The last thing we need is another government program that only cost a bunch of money and ends up doing far more harm than good. Before the government started messing with familes, children and young parents learned excellent parenting skills from their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and neighbors. Now that the government has gotten involved there are very few good parents. | |
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| What happen? Should? Parenting Classes be taught in public school?
Posted: 3/13/2008 5:52:08 PM | There are a lot of good parents.
I agree the goverment is way to involved and that they only mess things up when they step in. Another problem is the lack of support networks. Try raising a child by yourself. Back then..the time when the above poster was referring to..people helped people and were more then happy to do so. Not so much anymore..now you have to be part of the click or you have to know people..neighbors don't want to help you unless they know you for along time. Even babysitters are really expensive and everyone wants money. No more do people help you. It's ashame. Now if you so much as raise your voice to kids the neighbors call dyfus or the cops or something. It's ridiclous.. The goverment gets together with thier all knowing group of a few people and then decide exactly what you have to do to raise your child right and then go after anyone who does anything outside of what they decided is right. Not taking into account that every child is different or anything else to that effect.
When my son was an infant..happy and healthy..the peditrican told me that he was too heavy and i wasn't feeding him right.. well my son was perfect weight..his weight and height were both in the 105th percentile and he was consistent is growth each time he went. then I had the gall to put ceral in his bottle before it was recommened and they tried to send me to nutrition classes..I did nothing wrong..i fed my son because he was hungry..so sue me..
Just an example of how ridiclous the goverment is... | |
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| What happen? Should? Parenting Classes be taught in public school?
Posted: 3/13/2008 6:27:00 PM | | About 20 years ago, I taught in a little district that would graduate about 25-30 kids a year. The first year I was there, 9 girls were pregnant. The administration asked the other science teacher and I to teach a sex ed course. She took the girls and I took the boys. We took 6 weeks and we each wrote different curriculum for the class. The following year, only one girl was pregnant. She was the one that giggled when the gynecologist came to the school and spoke. I think our success could be attributed to a number of things. 1) small school off the radar. I know there were things that I told the boys that would upset the liberal camps. I talked about God and morality. I also talked about birth control and abortion and I am sure that would have offended the right. 2) I made it personal. I assigned an assortment of topics as term papers. Which included socio economic problems associated with having children unprpared 3) We seperated the boys and girls. They are copulating till their brains run out of their bodily orfices, but they are still embarassed about their bodies. The bottom line is our success was dependent upon us making the decisions. If this occured in a larger district, it would attract media attention and then everyone would put his 2 cents in and nothing would be accomplished. My suggestion is to get churches to start this. One of my students told me her church was giving very detailed sex education in a similar manner and said that the kids were responding. She said the boys treated her and the other girls with a greater respect afterward. | |
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| What happen? Should? Parenting Classes be taught in public school?
Posted: 3/13/2008 6:32:33 PM | another observation.
I currently teach in an inner city school and we have a number of expectant mothers. There is a ,movement to get expenctant mothers seperated from the rest of the girls because it glamorizes teen pregncy and I agree with that . I see the other girls rubbing the expectant mom's tummy feeling the baby kick. They bring in the sonagram and pass it around. They have a shower all the girls bring baby chlothes diapers and have a party. BUT THEY NEVER TALK ABOUT HOW EXPENSIVE IT IS AND HOW MUCH TIME IT TAKE TO BE MOM. BY THAT TIME THE MOM HAS DROPPED OUT. | |
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| What happen? Should? Parenting Classes be taught in public school?
Posted: 3/13/2008 6:41:09 PM | Just an example of how ridiclous the goverment is...
NotInnocent, you make a lot of good points and we appear to agree that the government should have far less involvement in our lives. The government didn't make the children; the parents did. However, the government acts is if they own the children and maybe they do since apparently we are all slaves to the government.
When parents make a mistake or harm their children, they lose their children or go to jail. When government social workers and others harm children, their government program get more money.
I trust parents to look out for the interest of their children 40 times more than I trust some government bureaucracy. If I had my way, the government would not get involved even with bad parents. Let natural selection take care of the problem. Or, if government does get involved and, as in so many cases, the child is harmed, the social workers, the judge, and other involved should be fired and subject to prison and lawsuits. | |
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| What happen? Should? Parenting Classes be taught in public school?
Posted: 3/13/2008 7:03:48 PM | my point exactly..they are way to involved..
I understand that sometimes kids are truly being hurt and there needs to be some kind of intervention. But in the interest of protecting the few they punish the many.. Therein lies the problem. This problem extends beyone the child protective agencies but for this thread I focus on that. When a goverment agency intervenes you are automatically looked down on in your neighborhood. Instead of your neighbors coming to your defense or aid they automatically assume they didn't see something and they walk or run away. No matter what the reason. I have had my share of problems with the goverment. None of them had any basis in the first place. They need to back off. The problem with them backing off is they might overlook something that is truly happening. So instead they over investigate everything just to cover thier ass. 1 child slips through and it's thier ass..not the parents.. thats bullshit. It's not their fault it's the parents.
I also truly believe that single parents are looked at more closely then married parents. I don't have any facts to back that up it's just my belief from what me and my friends have been through..married or not. Someone related this to the fact the we are raising the child alone..but lots of married parents have an arrangement where one of them works and the other raises the kids plus they have a whole other adult, with their faults and their problems to deal with. How is that any less stressful then being single?? | |
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| What happen? Should? Parenting Classes be taught in public school?
Posted: 3/13/2008 8:11:20 PM | You can't..that's the point.. No one parenting style works so you can't teach true parenting. you can't teach someone how to be a parent. You can teach them about financial responsibility and what it really means to run a home and put someone else's need before your own..but you can't teach them how to parent. the parenting class I attended was a joke. They told me to make up a reward wheel so the kids can have something special when they are good. they tell you to talk to your kids rather then spank them..they have to track what you and your kids eat in a week so you can see if you are eating healthy.. Its all crap and truly common sense. You can't teach parenting. they tell you rather then punishing them, to talk to them about what they did and to discover the root cause. I tried that.. yaknow what? My son saw that he wasn't going to get in trouble so he started pushing more and more. what he did understand was no playstation for a week. that got him back on the listening to mommy track. Will that work with all kids? Of course not! that's why there are so many different books out there all contridicting each other on the best methods of child rearing. It depends on the child.
So the parents of the child can teach them about money (and they should), they can teach them about runnning a home (and they should), they can teach them about what hard work and dedication mean (and they should) and they can teach them how to be a good person (and they should by showing them). but they cannot teach them parenting. Society dictates what a good parent behaves like. When i was a kid, spanking were normal and expected and locking a screaming kid in the car while you went to eat was acceptable. Now it's grounds for jail. so the way my parents raised me isn't applicible in this day and age..so how are my parents possibly going to teach me how to parent. My dad would tell me story of getting the business end of a spoon when he was a kid..my grandmother was left alone at the age of 7 while her mom and dad were out making ends meet. The dedication and loyality is there..the hard work is there, showing the value of money is there, but how can i possibly raise my child the way I was? it's socially unacceptable now. And I am sure that any methods I use now to raise and teach my son will be socially unacceptable by the time he is a parent. The only way to be a good parent is to love your children enough and to do the best you can do. it can't be taught.. | |
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| What happen? Should? Parenting Classes be taught in public school?
Posted: 3/14/2008 7:14:57 AM | I can only speak for MY school district,but
I'm scratching my head....
Where does teaching a child .......
1. To take 200 dollars and food shop for a family of 4 for a week,
2. Prepare meals for a family/ using kitchen equipment,
3. How to read the detergent and clothing labels as to do wash.
4. Balancing a checkbook with rent/food/phone/elc/clothes/etc,
5. Feeding and changing an infant,
6, Home repair and maintenance
Have anything to do with Parenting style???
Most of the post regarding the parenting classes involve a child, was the care of an infant. An infant only needs to be feed,changed,and kept from danger. I believe the "Parenting STYLE" comes years later, and I'm not sure anyone mentioned that this even takes place in these types of classes...
I think expecting a public school to teach this is too much.
You are kidding ,RIGHT?
Since the 3 R's Schools have been required to (in the USA)
1. Feed kids lunch, yes parents are no longer required to pack a lunch.
2. Feed them breakfast, Yes parents are no longer required to feed them breakfast.
3. Teach them a gaZillion of sports activities.
4. Teach them several languages.
5. Teach them Sex ED every year which at my schools starts at 1st grade.
6. Teach them about drugs every year which at my school starts at 1st grade.
7. Teach them about Internet safety which starts at 1st grade.
8. Provide them with counselors. My grade class of 276 had 2. My son (at same school with 319 has like 8)
9. Provide after school activities .
10. Provide with a morning drop off service, as children can be dropped off as parents go to work before school hours.
11. Teach the kids current social life styles .. I.E. mixed relationships/ homosexuality/non-parent Parents/etc
12. Teach them religion/ evolution/ and such that panders to such beliefs.
Need I go on.... Our schools have gotten so far pushed past the 3 R's AS society screams at the school system to take care of and teach their children.
Now, I'm not sure how many kids are gonna grow up to get on the Internet and meet up with a bunch of non English speaking people that want to smoke a joint, have a beer, sex, or a game of basketball. To also do this in a way not to offend them and their current life style and be previously counseled as to deal with the rejection or objection....
BUT.....
I'm gonna say (off the top of my head) 80-85% are gonna produce a child...
Nobody wants someone else to tell them how to raise their kids. Do you?
Funny and the dozen example above parents demand... and YES... demand it in a way that does not offend Them
The last thing we need is another government program that only cost a bunch of money and ends up doing far more harm than good
Yep, and if I was nineteen and lived minutes away from New Orleans were Katrina hit 3 years ago. I'd feel the same way about government Wasting money
When I was a kid, spanking were normal and expected and locking a screaming kid in the car while you went to eat was acceptable
Really? Just 10-15 years ago in America?
The only way to be a good parent is to love your children enough and to do the best you can do. it can't be taught..
I disagree. You can take a healthy child and teach them almost ANYTHING.
On the flip side... you can also indoctrinate them with ANYTHING...
A young mind is an easy thing to mold , whether it be by the .....
Parent,
School,
Internet,
or the kids on the corner. | |
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| What happen? Should? Parenting Classes be taught in public school?
Posted: 3/14/2008 8:43:35 AM | | The purpose of a school is to impart knowledge. It is a parents job to teach a child discipline, morals, ethics, self worth, and a little common sense, and a whole list of other things. If your teenage kid needs a class to learn about sex and it's consequences you're already a little to late. As far as the bad parenting, what little they may know about being a parent, they learned at home, lead by example. There are parenting classes offered by many organizations free of charge to people of all ages, one only has to look. I do think for anyone under 21 those classes should be mandatory. You are quite right about the crazy stuff that happens to kids these days, sad what our society is becoming. | |
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| What happen? Should? Parenting Classes be taught in public school?
Posted: 3/14/2008 9:09:37 AM | ^^^ exactly. As n adult I have taken many parenting classes, because even though I know I am a good mom I want to be the best mom I can be. There is classes available at community health units, parenting resource centers(such as parents place) and churches all the time. There is also classes on child development etc offered at the community colleges that can be audtited so you take it for the knowledge not the assignments/grades. I don't think passing the buck to the school system is the way to go.
Actually when I was reminded about everything else the school has o do in addition to teachin the 3R's to kids I am reinforced in my decision to homeschool my kids. Schools have so much more to do, when does the actual learning ever take place. I do know of one school here in my city that does teach parenting classes, it is a high school for teenage parents, so the parents put their kids into the daycare in the school, go and do their school work but also take classes in parenting those kids. | |
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| What happen? Should? Parenting Classes be taught in public school?
Posted: 3/14/2008 9:30:33 AM | Don't you realize that EVERYTHING starts in the home?
Why is it up to the schools to teach?
Once a child has been brought into this world it will be raised the way their parent was... perhaps with much difference if it isn't how that parent wants their child raised.
How about role models in a child's life? They can be a good influence or not.
Parenting classes can and are taught in the schools but I don't think they actually teach much. At the time I had to carry an egg around with me my mother was home on Maternity leave with my younger brother. I didn't get the best grade as I had my mom babysit said egg while I was at school.
Until the day an instruction booklet pops out of me at the same time as any child I give birth to... I am NOT going to tell someone how to parent their child. | |
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| What happen? Should? Parenting Classes be taught in public school?
Posted: 3/14/2008 10:01:05 AM | I agree budgeting, home economics, should be taught in schools I was surprised as an adult at the number of people I have met who say growing up their parents did not discuss budgeting money or balancing a check book with them as a child and as a result they lacked money management skills and had financial issues. I dated a women in my early 20's who was 19 years old at the time. She was raised in the foster care system and no one she lived with ever explained finances to her. She had large credit card debts because when she turned 18 years old department Stores, Visa and Mastercard sent her credit cards that she did not apply for even. She told me that she honestly credit cards from department stores were coupons. I explained credit to her and how it worked and at that point really appreciated my parents teaching me about credoit and budgeting.
Yes this stuff should start at home but what does one do when it is not being taught at home? | |
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