Maybe I'm being an ass about this, but this irks the hell out of me

[NFS4]

I was just talking with my GF who is student teaching 1st grade in a pretty upscale neighborhood in Charlotte, NC. She was telling me about her day (and her many complaints about the way things are run there), but one thing that she said just made me go "What "*#&@?"

She said that "**name deleted** was in the cafe eating with her mom during lunch." Of course, I'm like "Cafe...cafe???" She said yeah, parents come in on a regular basis and take their kids away from their class who normally eats lunch in the cafeteria and take them to have "alone time" in the school cafe. Again, I'm trying to comprehend this b/c this is the first that I've heard of something like this.

She said that it's mostly stay at home soccer moms that come in and take their kids aside during lunch...and they have this whole seperate area for them. HELLO, school time isn't parent time during the day last time I checked...especially on a regular basis. Taking your kid away from the rest of the class??? What about the parents that can't afford to take off from work and come in and have lunch with their kids? How are those kids supposed to feel?

Now I can understand parents coming in during reccess and bringing a cake or cupcakes if their kid has a birthday. I mean, in that case the whole class gets to partake. But for parents to come in and have their own "alone time" with their kids on school grounds during school hours is just beyond belief for me. Well, it's at least something that never happened at my elementary school.

Maybe I'm off my rocker, and my GF seemed a bit surprised that I took that stance, but still...

What do you think?

 

[scrawnypaleguy]

Parents are dumb.

 

[waggy]

now that is fvcked up.

 

[MikeMike]

WTF? Why do parents need to remove their children from the rest of the class?

 

[tbike06]

Originally posted by: scrawnypaleguy
Parents are dumb.

 

[Garet Jax]

It seems a little strange considering kids at that age primarily go to school to learn socialization skills and to deal with authority/structure coming from someone outside the home. Beyond that, I don't see an issue with it.

PS - Who cares how kids whose parents can't/don't eat lunch with them feel? What am I missing?

 

[zanejohnson]

i dont see any problem with it...

when i was a kid though, it was "uncool" for your parents to eat lunch with you lol

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I'm going into education, and this sounds like a bad / dumb idea to me.

 

[Riceball]

I could care less, would probably make their kids more introverted but that on the parents. To me it's no different then cliques

 

[TuxDave]

What about the parents that can't afford to take off from work and come in and have lunch with their kids? How are those kids supposed to feel?

I think this is a non-issue. I could say the same about the kids that got potato chips or cupcakes in their bagged lunches. My parents never packed me dessert.... ever....

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: Garet Jax
It seems a little strange considering kids at that age primarily go to school to learn socialization skills and to deal with authority/structure coming from someone outside the home. Beyond that, I don't see an issue with it.

That was my reasoning. At that age, it seems best for the kids to get used to structure and gather socialization skills. But for parents to come in and take them away from the class seems to fly in the face of that.

 

[buck]

If my parents pulled that crap on me back in the day, i would have punched them in the ear.

 

[rivan]

I'd much rather see this than the other end of the parental-attention and dedication spectrum.

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: TuxDave

What about the parents that can't afford to take off from work and come in and have lunch with their kids? How are those kids supposed to feel?

I think this is a non-issue. I could say the same about the kids that got potato chips or cupcakes in their bagged lunches. My parents never packed me dessert.... ever....

Poor baby. I hope you provide plenty of goodies for your kids' lunchboxes

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: rivan
I'd much rather see this than the other end of the parental-attention and dedication spectrum.

very true.

I know as a kid if my parents came to school to have lunch with me i would have been upset.

 

[pinion9]

What is your problem? Who cares? It isn't hurting anyone, not even the kid. Is anyone here a child psychologist?

How many of you are parents? It is hard being away from your kids, and I think it is awesome that parents come and eat lunch with their kids. Strong parent bond > socializing with dirty, random kids.

As for how the other kids feel, they should get used to it. If you are concerned about how the other kids feel, send the kids to a school where they wear a uniform and eat the same lunch. If kids have crappy parents who don't pay attention to them, maybe it is good for them to see that it *isn't* normal for it to be that way.

 

[chambersc]

I'm on the fence about this one.

One one side, I vehemently agree with what my physics professor told us one day. He said that upon going to his first parent-teacher conference in Kindergarten, he learned that they "don't do recess anymore." Every day since that, I forget how long (maybe rest of year maybe whole elementary ... idk), he would go to his son's school and check him out at lunch time. He would then play catch with him for that whole time. He would bring a lunch and all and then check him back in after lunch.

On the other hand I believe that lunch time in a public school provides great support and help to foster ones social skills. These skills are simply ingrained in kids from the time spent doing various things (other than eating) at the lunch table and one would be hard-pressed to re learn these values elsewhere.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I'm going into education, and this sounds like a bad / dumb idea to me.

I hope you get to have a class devoted to audio.

Personally, I don't see a big deal with this though. Who cares, lunch sucks in grade school anyway, and its not like they're probably going to keep it up through junior and high school, so I don't see anything wrong with it. There really wasn't that much socialization going on during lunch in elementary school, most of it was in gym and recess and normal class.

 

[djheater]

There are a number of very good reasons why this should be allowed.
That being said there are going to be parents who use it incorrectly but those parents are likely to ruin their kids regardless of this policy.

 

[DurocShark]

Upscale in Charlotte = doublewides?



<--- Used to live in High Point where upscale = having all your teeth.

 

[mb]

I don't see the problem as long as it's not an everyday thing. What the fsck is wrong with a parent wanting to have lunch with their own friggin kid once in a while?

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: rivan
I'd much rather see this than the other end of the parental-attention and dedication spectrum.

Not me... I think it's good for kids to gain independence because they will inevitably be independent in the future. Always being around their parents is just going to destroy their life in many ways whether you realize it or not. For example, if your parents always do stuff for you how will you know how to do it? In that case it's robbing the person of knowledge, and in the former case it's robbing them of social skills. Well, as for the former I guess it'd be both because the damn people are taking their kids away from class. :| I'm surprised that's even considered an excused absense.

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: DurocShark
Upscale in Charlotte = doublewides?



<--- Used to live in High Point where upscale = having all your teeth.

Upscale Charlotte = multimillion dollar homes, parents driving around in Range Rovers and Mercedes Benzs, every mom is fit and trim with a well-toned body.

 

[FoBoT]

I don't see what the big deal is.

kids need to learn to feel bad in school, that prepares them for real life where they'll feel bad about their crappy lives all the time, not just at school

 

[pinion9]

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: DurocShark
Upscale in Charlotte = doublewides?



<--- Used to live in High Point where upscale = having all your teeth.

Upscale Charlotte = multimillion dollar homes, parents driving around in Range Rovers and Mercedes Benzs, every mom is fit and trim with a well-toned body.

Sounds like maybe you should be having lunch with some of the moms!

TTIWWP of either girlfriend, the moms, or both.