Caitlin: 0:28

Okay, y'all, we love those ADHD deep dives and we hear you that you love that content too. But with the back to school chaos creeping up the next few weeks for a lot of you, ariella and Jenny and I realized that some of y'all are about to accidentally become that parent without even trying. So, as former teachers, jenny and I feel it's very important that we pause and intervene so that you don't become that parent. So this is your episode, that is, the emergency breaks before the school year begins. It's stopping you from sending that 9 pm email, it's stopping you from trusting the whole oh yeah, I did my homework Okay. And it's stopping you from being the person who tries to start a parent-teacher conference before even having meet the teacher day. So this is the throwback, the classic 10 things I would do if I wanted my kid's teacher to like me, aka survival tips for the school year episode. Because teachers remember the unannounced cupcake-toting, principal-cc-ing chaos-agent parents and we want better for you and for your teacher. So, without any further ado, take a listen to this throwback.

Caitlin: 1:53

Without any further ado. Take a listen to this throwback. It's Tuesday. We're so glad you're here. It's our sophomore year of the show. Did you know that we're so mature now?

Jenny: 2:00

Oh, we are super mature, definitely big fans of campus.

Caitlin: 2:06

I don't think I was ever a big man on campus, literally or figuratively.

Jenny: 2:09

I'm just no, oh no, all right. Well, welcome to CK and GK. We are the how-to show that tells you all of the things that we had to learn and tries to save you some of the embarrassment that we went through and all the like anxiety that goes into all of the logistical things.

Caitlin: 2:26

That's what we're here for to try and help you out with that.

Jenny: 2:28

That's right. We're here to help you with your anxiety. I don't know if it's to lower it or raise it.

Caitlin: 2:32

We don't know, but we're going to help you. I'm hoping that we lower it at least in some instances.

Jenny: 2:37

With me is Caitlin, but we're going to change her name to Wi-Fi because she and I are feeling a strong connection.

Caitlin: 2:42

Oh yeah. Well, Jenny does not like that Raymond because she's Marie Barone. I don't like that Raymond. That show was so good.

Jenny: 2:57

It was so good.

Caitlin: 2:58

Yeah.

Jenny: 2:58

It was so good and you know I love Phil. Yes, absolutely Love Raymond.

Caitlin: 3:02

Okay, so let's do some shout outs. I need to start with this one, because my geriatric millennial heart is like pounding even talking about this, because this was the coolest thing.

Jenny: 3:12

So this is not even a shout out. This is a shout it from the mountain top out right?

Caitlin: 3:17

um, I need to give a shout out to lisa. Freaking lobe. Are you kidding me? Holy crap. So here's what happened.

Jenny: 3:25

I send a tweet to heb those of you who are listening outside of Texas. This is the grocery store that really should be running the world.

Caitlin: 3:35

H-e-b is wonderful. We love them. I sent a tweet to H-E-B. I'm talking about how the music that they're playing there. You know you have reached a certain age when the music in the grocery store is like this song is so good and you just are like happy to be in the grocery store. And I used to just walk around the grocery store with headphones in, but at HEB I take one out now because I can listen to the music. So I'm tweeting at HEB saying that I love their music and that they're playing. And I said something to the effect of you know, I don't know if I like need to go get a walker or like one of their toy karaoke microphones so that I can sing in the middle of the produce section. And HEB tweets back at me like are you going to do it? Are you going to do an encore for us?

Jenny: 4:23

That was my timer, reminding me to say happy birthday to my friend Jennifer, so shout out to you.

Caitlin: 4:29

Happy birthday. So anyway, like I was saying, so, um, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. Nope, that's from forest gum, okay. So I get a response back from hb saying are you gonna do it like, let's make it happen? What are the songs? So I was like, well, here, you know, here's a few songs. And then I said and any woman my age worth her salt knows every line to stay by Lisa Loeb, and I think I added her in this, I think I called her out, I tagged her in the post. Anyway, she liked it, okay, liked it, she liked it. And then Jenny responds with like you say I only buy what I want to I only buy what I want to, don't use a list.

Jenny: 5:19

Wow, that was pretty good.

Caitlin: 5:21

I don't stick to a budget, I just Somehow, adhd has to get woven in there for my impulse purchases. So so, yeah, adhd has to get woven in there for my impulse purchases, so so, yeah. So then she sees Jenny's reply and likes that too. And then later on, when I tweeted about how, like I could, you know, happily pass away as a geriatric millennial woman because she liked my tweet, she found it again and she liked it again Soisa, lobe, I love you. That's the end of that yeah, it's amazing, it's amazing, hey, y'all pov.

Caitlin: 6:03

You find a diary exposing forbidden magic and the hot museum caretaker's life depends on you burning it, roots and Ink. The debut novel by Ariella Monti is the fantasy romance for rebels. Use promo code CKANDGK to get 20% off your copy at AriellaMonticom. Again, that's all caps C-K-A-N-D-G-K for 20% off on AriellaMonticom. Get your copy for 20% off on Ariella Montycom. Get your copy for 20% off today. It's an older trend, though, but we're doing it okay, well, it's fine, we're gonna do it, because it's great, it's.

Jenny: 6:46

I'm an old lady, I'm gen x. I have to wait till everything's old and it's on facebook anyhow. The old trend is this theme of videos that five or ten or 20 things I would never do because I am an ex-profession Mm-hmm. Yes, and so today, to build the education triad, we are going to help you connect student to teacher, to parent or grown-up guardian family whatever term applies to you as an adult in a student's life.

Caitlin: 7:27

And, specifically, I think what we're doing here is we're going to try and bridge that gap between educator and parent, like this is it's three people who are involved in the learning of a child it's the child, the teacher and the parent and so oftentimes there's a good relationship between the teacher and the student and the student and the parent, and then the parent and the educator are the ones who are either unaware of each other or at odds, or don't have an understanding of each other, or whatever it is.

Jenny: 7:58

Right and more than anything, it's just these teachers have anywhere in the neighborhood of 25 to 125 kids with whom they're trying to connect families, and you, as a parent, have anywhere in the neighborhood, from one teacher to you know, 16 or 30, depending on how many kids you have, and you're just trying to figure out how you connect with teachers. And so we are going to help you connect with teachers by giving you the non-examples Right, the things I would never, the top 10 things I would never do after serving as a classroom teacher. Yes, number 10. Buy the wrong school supplies, y'all. It's actually better to wait let the teacher know you could not find the yellow folder with brads than to buy the orange folder and send it in.

Caitlin: 9:00

Yeah, there's a reason why the teacher wants yellow. If you have multiple children, you might understand this probably pretty well. It's to eliminate that whole. She has this and I don't have that, and it gets confusing, right, like I don't have a yellow folder, so which one of my other brightly colored folders should I use? So there's that piece of it, right.

Caitlin: 9:22

And there was a conversation that came up about crayons, like which box of crayons to buy? And it was. I think, actually, that I saw this online, but I also had this conversation in my personal life and the question was I can't find the box of 16 crayons. I don't know why that's the specific one. And the answer is because when that teacher says I need you to pull out your red crayon, and if you have a box of 24 crayons, there could be three different colors of red, and now the child is like but which one do I use? And if it's just the same across the board for every single kid? You bought the brand that you were asked to buy. You bought the exact same size you were supposed to buy. The teacher also has that in hand and can pull that out and go find the one that says sunshine and that's going to be the crayon we're all going to use to draw the sun, and everyone is on the same page and there's no conflict about it. That's the reason.

Jenny: 10:17

Right as your child becomes older. As your child becomes older, particularly in middle school and then going into high school. If a teacher requests a specific item, it's because they are going to teach the child how to use that item Exactly. I, as a math teacher, am thinking of a graphing calculator. If they tell you that you need the TI-83 plus, plus means it archives. That's a shout out to my mom for making fun of me in high school for wanting that calculator for Christmas, which she did buy it for me.

Caitlin: 10:54

It's like a $200 calculator you have to yeah.

Jenny: 10:57

Oh man, no, no, no, she was making not the price it was. That's what you want A calculator Nerded up girl and it had Tetris on it.

Caitlin: 11:07

It's fine yeah.

Jenny: 11:08

So right, but if they're telling you that that's the specific brand and model of calculator, it's because they're going to use the calculator as a tool to teach math Right, and they don't want the tool to get in the way of the math. So they're going to teach everybody the same procedures and understanding of the calculator as a tool and then further the math by not letting the tool get in the way of that.

Caitlin: 11:35

A composition notebook. It's not the same as a spiral and I'm speaking as someone who used a composition notebook and a spiral at different times in my education career and I will tell you there's a reason behind the specificity there. So I would never buy the wrong school supplies. And if your school does a thing like my son's school does, a thing where it's like you can buy all of the school supplies in a bundle and it's what the teachers have listed, do it. It's cheaper, it's cheaper and it's easier for you. Just do it.

Jenny: 12:06

Yep.

Caitlin: 12:06

Yeah.

Jenny: 12:07

Check. All right, what else would you never do? Things I would never do as someone who has served as a classroom teacher. Number nine assume that it's okay to bring birthday treats.

Caitlin: 12:21

Right, especially now in the era of COVID. I think people are a little bit more mindful of this. People are also talking about, you know, food sensitivities, these are. These are concerns, but if you are going to assume that everyone in the class can have the cupcakes, we all know what happens when you assume Don't do that, don't do that, and there's a couple of reasons.

Jenny: 12:41

Right, at least you assumed cupcakes. Oh, no, I've had kids bring cake. They bring an entire cake, the cake, yeah. And they say, oh, do you have a knife? Oh, do you have plates? Oh, do you have fork?

Caitlin: 12:53

Middle school children bringing in an entire cake and they'll carry it around like all day long and they're like I bet I could have it in this person's class. And then they'll come to you and they're like like I bet I could have it in this person's class. And then they'll come to you and they're like it's my birthday, can I have a cake? No, you didn't. No, I didn't know. I didn't plan for this. I'm supposed to be teaching you something. I'm trying to keep every kid on the same page.

Caitlin: 13:12

Like, no, we're not stopping to do cake. I'm not a restaurant supply store. Like, if you're going to do it, if you're going to do it, at least send like paper plates and stuff along with it. But like, don't just assume that I have. I'm going to just take all of my napkins and or all of the paper towels out of my you know sink area and use them. Tissues, oh, tissues, it is tissues. Or like all of the Clorox wipes that I purchased with my own money and now I have to use to clean up all the frosting that happened to get everywhere when the tissues didn't work, to clean it up.

Jenny: 13:47

And then there's that mob of kids that follow the cake kid around.

Caitlin: 13:54

Can I have some? I've also seen the kids who have the cake and then they do have forks but nothing to serve it on. So then the kids just all have a fork and they walk around and they're all just taking it off of the cake. Oh my gosh, it was horrible. Like never, like, never again, never, ever, ever again.

Jenny: 14:13

So let me teach you how to celebrate your child's birthday. Yeah, okay, first, a week in advance, email the teacher and ask about the birthday policy. Yes, ask, do you celebrate at school? If you do, how do you do it? What is the number of treats I need to send in? Should they be individually wrapped? Should they be prepared at a store?

Caitlin: 14:39

Can they be food at all? Can they be food at?

Jenny: 14:41

all. Let the teacher tell you that Now you only do this email procedure if, after you have read the handbook and syllabus and all of the other documents that have gone by, you did not see something about a birthday party, right?

Caitlin: 15:00

Otherwise go look there first. Do that anyway, just go look.

Jenny: 15:04

When my daughter was in kindergarten was the best birthday celebration procedure I have ever seen at any school, ever. Her teachers were amazing. Okay, they, instead of doing treats and a party and da, da, da da, when it was your birthday birthday, you got to invite someone to come and read to the class oh, that's cute.

Jenny: 15:28

I love that idea right so the kid could choose if it was going to be parent, grandparent, friend, aunt, uncle, a teacher from some another class or whatever, and they got to say why this person is important, and then that person would read a book to the class.

Caitlin: 15:46

I love that. That's super cute. It was adorable. I also want to caution the class birthday party thing. If you're going to invite people from class to a birthday party, again check the handbook and ask about the birthday party policy because those can, especially at younger ages, those can be a little hurtful if the whole class isn't invited. So I realize that you know you may not be made of money and I understand that completely. I am just make sure you refer back to that policy. I know at my son's school you do need to invite the entire class. If you're having a birthday party and you invite anyone from school, you need to invite everyone from school. I would never, as a former educator, now parent assume that I know the birthday party policy. Assume that I know the birthday celebration policy in the classroom. There you go.

Jenny: 16:39

All right Number. Eight Things I would never do after serving as a classroom teacher Number eight. Believe my elementary or middle school child when they said they have done all their homework. Ask the kid to show you the work.

Caitlin: 17:00

Right.

Jenny: 17:00

You're the parent.

Caitlin: 17:02

Right.

Jenny: 17:02

Say great, I'm so glad you're done. Show me what you did. Let's talk about work. Right, you're the parent, right? Say great, I'm so glad you're done.

Caitlin: 17:05

Show me what you need, let's talk about it. Right, and you might not have time. This doesn't need to be everything, but, like the whole wait, what I've been told that they've been doing their homework four weeks into school is so tired, like it's so tired.

Jenny: 17:21

Right. You know that there's a way for you to see what assignments are due. You know there's a way for you to access that. And if you are struggling to access it because it's nuts and different teachers use different platforms and you had to learn something in third grade that's different than what you're doing in fourth grade, I get you, it's a headache, it's terrible and I know how hard that is. You got to learn the system. You got to learn the system. Figure out how to check what's coming up and look at your kid and say, okay, you are supposed to have a report on the phantom toll booth done on Thursday. I want to see what you've done Right and don't not. How are you doing Right? Not? Are you close? Not, oh, you've already turned it in Lies.

Caitlin: 18:10

It's all lies. It's all lies. And you might have a really responsible child who is like me and highly anxious and like we'll do the homework. I get that piece, but even asking that child lets them know that you are invested in it and you're not just trusting them to do it. You are going to actually take a moment to have a conversation with them about it. They know you're going to check up on them and there is a reassurance that comes from that Having someone check in and go well, let's see, just show me what you're doing Because there is power in that conversation, both for the child in terms of explaining to you what's happening in the classroom and what they're learning, and for you as a parent. It's an opportunity for you to connect with your child and not be caught with the. I had no idea.

Jenny: 18:59

And I can't tell you how many times as a teacher facilitating a student parent teacher conference and again you heard student in the conference, because I'm a big fan of including students in conversations about their learning but I can't tell you how many times in those types of meetings I would look at a kid and say your dad's allowed to ask to see your homework. He's your dad, right, you're 12. And you don't need you don't homework. He's your dad, right, you're 12. And you don't need. You don't need to put up a fight, right, and you don't need to say you're smothering me and no, he, he's allowed to ask to see it, right, and you're. You're only looking like you haven't done it If you press back and say I don't want to show you. Yeah, absolutely, it looks like you're done and you're not proud because you rushed through it or you're not done at all.

Caitlin: 19:49

Yeah, all right, the key word there is show me no-transcript.

Jenny: 20:00

Send an email send. Send an email to a teacher after 6 pm. Now I emphasize the word send because you can type that email at 930 if you want. You can type that email at 2 am, but don't hit send after the workday is over.

Caitlin: 20:20

No, I actually, as a teacher, I would set boundaries and say, like you can email me after this time, but I do not expect an answer after five o'clock. The anxiety that I got from having an email in my inbox that hit at like 730 at night oh, it was enough to keep me awake for hours, for hours and hours and hours.

Jenny: 20:43

It doesn't matter what it's about and if this is an email that addresses a conflict, whether it be a conflict that you as an adult have about something that's happening in the classroom, or it's responding to a conflict that the student and the teacher have, it doesn't matter. If it is a email that addresses a conflict and it does not involve an emergency, this is an email that you need to read again hours later.

Jenny: 21:16

Yeah don't fire it off on your man something hideous because she was hot at three, 30 and send something that was unkind and not responsive and not thinking about the child. You can be better than that, yep, and you can respond, but don't hit send yeah, and either either use a scheduler to have it sent at 730. So it shows up in her inbox that morning, or look at it again that morning when you wake up and say, okay, I actually can make her look even worse Because I can be cool, calm and collected and respond so kindly and so sickeningly sweet. But don't don't power of email after the work day.

Caitlin: 22:08

Teachers who have the discipline to not look at their work email when it's on their phone after a certain hour is something else and, honestly, a teacher will open it, he or she will read it, they will read it and they will go, oh my gosh, and it will be an anxiety causing thing. And and if it's an issue with homework, um, I would say you can. You can absolutely draft that email, notify the teacher. This is what happened, um, you know, so so-and-so worked on it for 45 minutes. We both don't understand. We're both so confused and you know, please excuse this situation. And if you can coach that person through it, then we'll talk about it and we'll get the homework done.

Caitlin: 22:54

My apologies, something like that is totally acceptable, but the expectation of a response anytime after 5 pm is pretty unfair. Frankly, after 4.30 is probably pretty unfair for a lot of teachers, especially ones who have children in their own lives, and it's just don't, just don't send it, just don't send it. Please use an email scheduler. It's just so much more kind. Or at least say I don't expect a response right away. Oh dude, that's the same thing. Yeah, I understand, you're out. I'm putting this here now. I don't expect a response right away. Oh, dude, that's the same thing. Yeah, I understand you're out. I'm putting this here now. I don't expect a response from you. Please catch up on what you need to do and when you have the bandwidth for this, please respond at that point, but I don't expect an answer from you right away. That's an absolutely fine way to do that.

Jenny: 23:40

Number six. That number six request a conference without sending specific questions or concerns so the teacher can prepare for the meeting.

Caitlin: 23:53

All the anxiety, panic, alarms are going off right now.

Jenny: 23:56

Oh my gosh, the emails that were like you, ever made a doctor's appointment and had the reason for the appointment be want to talk to doctor.

Caitlin: 24:07

Or your doctor says I'm going to call you back and talk about your results. Anxiety, right, it's panic. You're instantly freaking out. Or if you are a parent who works in a corporate setting and your boss goes hey, can you pop by my office tomorrow? I'd love to chat with you about something. And they say something and they don't clarify what it is. What's your first thought? I'm fired. Yeah, Please be specific.

Jenny: 24:36

A lot of times things can be resolved pretty easily via email or phone call and don't require you coming up to school. Via email or phone call and don't require you coming up to school. There are many reasons to have a conference. If you come to the conference without the teacher knowing the agenda, they aren't ready. Not just are they sitting there marinating in anxiety. Oh my gosh, I don't even know what's wrong. You now have set up for a second conference Right, because they're not ready to answer you. And you've told me X, y and Z and I said, oh my goodness, you're right, those are real problems. The problem is I actually have to talk to the science teacher to get the information about that. Absolutely, I wish that you had told me ahead of time and I could have pulled her into this meeting.

Caitlin: 25:26

Or at least gotten some notes from her that I could then show you and or read out loud at something. There's prep work that goes into these. That's why parent-teacher conferences are scheduled the way that they are, because it's an opportunity for you to talk and the teacher has done the legwork to be prepared for all those conferences with those parents and families.

Jenny: 25:45

So, yes, Number five, also relating to conferences yes, attempting to have one during carpool and or back to school night Dude. Yes, no, these are hard no's. I don't even need to explain this. I don't even need to explain this. If the teacher has another duty at the same time, you don't get a conference. No, these are hard no's. I don't even need to explain this. I don't even need to explain this. If the teacher has another duty at the same time, you don't get a conference no.

Jenny: 26:08

If you go to their doctor's office and he is seeing another patient, you don't get to walk in and say, hey, but I have a call, all right. Moving on Number four. Moving on Number four Sign documents without reading them slash. Ignoring emails from teachers.

Caitlin: 26:38

Especially at the beginning of the year. All those communications are usually about these other things like here's back to school night. Here's when you can have a conference with me. These are my conference periods. If you need to have a phone call, this is what time of day I'll be able to answer your emails. This is the supplies that I need. Here's how you log in and see your kids' grades. Don't ignore that stuff. Come on now. This is how we celebrate birthdays.

Jenny: 26:55

Exactly, goodness. I will tell you that as a classroom teacher, I had about 45 minutes a day that was not scheduled. And if I am spending that 45 minutes composing a message to go out to families, it is because it is a message that I think you will value. I don't want to send something frivolous. No, it's because I'm hoping that you're going to read it. No, it's because I'm hoping that you're going to read it. Things I would never do after serving as a classroom teacher. Number three Contact or carbon copy the principal on an email before going to the teacher first. The principal might be livid about the information that you were providing to her, but she also wonders why you didn't go to the teacher first, because the first thing she has to do with that email is walk down the hall to the teacher and say can you contact this parent regarding this email I just got Exactly.

Caitlin: 28:02

Exactly and I will say I have done the email that goes to the teacher and the counselor. But when you go to the principal you're not tattle telling Right. No, this was like. This was me wanting like an opportunity for some sort of additional support. I was not trying to rat out the teacher, the number of times that this happened to me as an educator and there are all kinds of ways that teachers mess up.

Jenny: 28:31

Please. I've done it myself.

Caitlin: 28:32

Oh, so many times We've talked about the one where I threw a marker at it. It was all in good fun, but it still could have gotten me in trouble.

Jenny: 28:41

Right, come to me and tell me G, gk, you missed the mark on this one. Yeah or gk, I am so angry with you. I, I am so angry with what was reported to me that my child experienced in your classroom. I completely disagree with what happened and we have got to work this out. Yeah, but you and, and then and I'm also going to email the principal about this because I'm so mad. At least let me know.

Caitlin: 29:11

Right, right, you can say you can forward my response. That's totally fine and certainly if there's some sort of egregious harm done to a child, we're talking, like you know, the worst possible things, abuse of a position of trust sort of situation. That's a different thing.

Jenny: 29:29

Right. Number two attempt to pick up my child either early or drop them off late without going through the main office, without going through the main office. Y'all this is a safety thing. You cannot take a kid without letting the office know.

Caitlin: 29:55

Your school is charged with your child's safety and, in light of recent events that have happened both in Texas and across the country, teachers are under more scrutiny than ever when it comes to keeping children safe.

Jenny: 30:14

We all want to be the best parent that we can to our kid Right, and so the motivation behind Meet Me at the Gym is number one. It's easier on parent right, you can just go, you don't have to park, you don't have to go in, sign in, show your id, you don't have to do all that right. But also it's faster for the kid right, right, because then they don't have to wait for you to have the office call them from class and come down and absolutely, and I get it. But what you've actually done is now put a 14 year old in between teacher and parent. Yep, because they're saying look, my aunt said I can just meet her right here at the gym, she's waiting for me, right. And we have to say no, you can't do that, you can't go. And now they are playing between two authorities in their life. Dealing with I now have to go back and give my parent, aunt, guardian, whoever it is. I have to give them this bad news that I can't follow their plan.

Caitlin: 31:16

There's a way to get around this. If you have to leave early or you have to drop off late, you notify the school the day before and I will say my apologies, there's an appointment at this time. And then, when you're 15 minutes away, you call the school and you say hey, can you please send Tom, dick and Harry down to the office because I'm going to go pick them up early? And then the school will track down where those children are, notify the teacher and the teacher will send them to the office. That's totally fine. It happens Sometimes your orthodontist appointments have to be scheduled in the middle of the afternoon. We get that right. But it's not okay to insist that a school keep your child safe and then break protocols that are put in place to keep your child safe. Right? Can you tell I'm getting heated? Yes, oh, yeah, I'm heated about this.

Jenny: 32:12

Okay, okay, here we go. Things I would never do after serving as a classroom teacher. So fast.

Caitlin: 32:21

Number one. We are going to have to fix the sound on that one. Okay, go for it.

Jenny: 32:26

Say my child would never, Because my child would and so would yours.

Caitlin: 32:36

Yeah, my child for sure would, so I know that yours would too. And the way that your child believe it or not, the way that your child behaves in front of you is very different from the way that your child behaves at school, right? Some kids are holy terrors at home and angels at school. Some are the opposite, right, holy terrors at school and angelic at home. So the idea that your child would never push a boy into the girl's bathroom which is why I went into the office when I was a kid the idea that those things would never happen they would happen. Think about yourself as a kid. Think about the things that you did. Surely you broke some rules and you crossed some boundaries. So just keep that out of your vocabulary.

Jenny: 33:24

You might have a fantastic well-behaved, follows all of the rules, type kid. Okay, I have two children. I have the kid that I wish I could be when I grow up. She's so well-behaved and she would never. But I'm telling you, this kid, this wonderful child, bit someone in preschool and the reason she bit someone is because that other kid wasn't cleaning up properly that's amazing so to say, my child would never act up.

Jenny: 34:05

My child would never guess what she would. And maybe her motivation is good, right, right, she wanted that other girl to clean up. It was time to clean up, yeah, at four years old didn't have another tool and so she bit her. Well, guess what? It doesn't matter that it was cleanup time. We now have to deal with my would never child is biting people at school.

Caitlin: 34:28

Right, mine dragged a fork across the little girl's back twice, so like during lunchtime, I think it just wanted to see what it would do. We don't know, we don't know the motivation, but it did happen. And so you are allowed to be shocked and horrified by what your child would do or did do and they did.

Jenny: 34:48

And you know what? Tomorrow's a new day and hopefully they won't again. Right, right, I cannot speak for all teachers. Right, we know that there are police who are great and we know that there are police who are not. And we know that there are educators out there who have a heart in it and we know that there are those who don't.

Caitlin: 35:08

But a good and kind and true teacher is surprised when those things happen, but hopeful that they won't happen twice and probably the next day if they're hopeful that they won't happen twice probably the next day that teacher is going to go. It's so good to see you today and today's a new day. I used to say that to my kids all the time Today's a new day. Let's move on from that Right. And also, to be clear, I'm learning these things as I go to right as a parent. It's a very different viewpoint than it is as a classroom teacher, and I'm experiencing that for the first time, and so I'm not going to sit here and say I've done this all correctly, but I am going to say that I am going to lead with this mentality that we've listed out here first.

Jenny: 35:52

And I will tell you that some of the greatest parent relationships I've had have been the parents of some of the most challenging students For sure I've had. Because when you know that those parents are on your side and that everybody is working towards bettering that child and helping them grow up to be a beautiful, productive, kind member of society, you're working towards a common goal.

Caitlin: 36:24

Right. It changes your perspective of the kid too. Right, like it's no longer a contentious relationship. You have an additional outpouring of empathy and kindness and patience and support that you are willing to extend. It's you know, that's the whole. Love is not a candy bar situation. Right, like the more you're shown, the more you have to give. And it's just respecting the teacher in these ways is so, so, so valuable for your child to see. They're learning from you. So honoring that person and honoring that relationship is going to be really, really important.

Jenny: 37:02

You know what else you could honor Our Patreon? Yes, are you?

Caitlin: 37:09

on our list? Nice, very nice. Are you on our list? Very nice Okay.

Jenny: 37:17

So here's what you're going to do. You're actually listening to us on your phone right now, so you're going to put your phone in your hand, you are going to go to all of the places where you pod and you are going to hit those stars. You are going to write a little review you are going to share, you are going to subscribe, you are going to go to our website and read our blog. To go to our website and read our blog and you are going to tell the world that you have completely changed as a person, that you are a better version of yourself, because ck and gk have spoken goodness into your life.

Jenny: 37:56

You're the 20-year reunion version of yourself right, yes right, absolutely put on the dress, throw the glitter, glitter, snap, do it make your choices and use your gift cards and, uh, get the right school supplies because it helps.

Caitlin: 38:11

Okay, bye.