Here’s the hard truth parents: To us, your child is work

I am a mother of five. I say this often, mostly in the hope that one day I shall say it and it won’t give me a jolt of surprise. The reason I say it now is to illustrate a very important point. Teachers have lives!

This is something that seems to bypass a lot of people, especially parents. They bring us their little and not so little darlings and expect us to be fully and even more invested in them than they are. So today I will be a bit stern to my fellow parents, in the hope of making the lives of my fellow teachers easier. Your children are work for us. That is the plain truth.

They are a job — one if you are lucky, we like doing. Your child is one of the many we teach. Those of us who are lucky teach about 40 or fewer students in a class, others, 60 to 80. Imagine that if you can, and you think birthday parties are exhausting! Every morning for about nine months in a year, a teacher has to contain your exuberant offspring with the fervent hope of imparting knowledge at the end of that day.

Even as I write this I am thinking about my sons’ teacher. They are going to class one. She will have those two and about 48 others with her in class. It is not enough that she will deliver my children back to me un-maimed, fed and even having had a swimming lesson on occasion, by year’s end they will have improved their literacy levels. Really, teachers are heroes!

So fellow parents, we must help these overworked and underpaid professionals. When your child’s teacher calls, turn up. When there is a school event, participate. Pick up your child on time so the understandably tired teacher on duty can go home and deal with his or her life. Make sure homework is done, books are accounted for and the uniform is neat and clean.

Help the teacher give your child an education, partner with us, because the truth is, these children are not ours, they are yours. And if they fail, it is you the parent who picks up the pieces.