Parents piss me off

[Alucard619]

I'm an instructor in my school, mostly with the children so obviously a big component of that is interacting with the parents. Majority of the parents I deal with are extremely obnoxious and annoying. Every day it's always the same old bullshit. Parents that talk on their phone during class. Parents that let screaming babies run around throwing ****. Like, have some fucking respect and courtesy and teach your children to not act like a spoiled little ****. Gets worse though. Lately a lot of parents have been complaining that I'm "too harsh and too stern" with all of my students.

My complaint isn't so much of what they say (I'm strict but I am fair with my students) but the fact none of them bring any complaints or concerns directly to me. They always go to one of the masters even though I'm the one teaching a majority of their kids. One woman recently threw a fit because she thinks I am particularly hard on her two sons and I single them out.

I'm sure some of you here have instructed in the past or maybe currently still do. Have you ever experienced this before?

[Omega Supreme]

Been teaching for 2 decades kid. It never changes.

[P Marsh]

The cultural stigma of parents knowing whats best for their children is fucking insane. Yes parents are the only ones qualified to make decisions for their child but that does not make them experts on parenting and child psychology. Parents now relay on anyone but themselves to care for their children and it sickens me. Goddamn useless self-help generation is going to raise an army of emotionally distant **** ups who expect everyone else to do **** for them thanks to the wonderful example set by the parents.

[socratic]

If your club had a successful team or something you could always counter with "Look bitch, I know junior is a special unique snowflake full of unique specialness that must be nurtured and tendered far more than any other child's, but my methods fucking work."

You do TKD, just do a wicked axe kick on them.

[socratic]

And I mean, if you can't solve your problems by hitting them, why the hell are you doing martial arts?

[chalkieusa]

I'm an instructor in my school, mostly with the children so obviously a big component of that is interacting with the parents. Majority of the parents I deal with are extremely obnoxious and annoying. Every day it's always the same old bullshit. Parents that talk on their phone during class. Parents that let screaming babies run around throwing ****. Like, have some fucking respect and courtesy and teach your children to not act like a spoiled little ****. Gets worse though. Lately a lot of parents have been complaining that I'm "too harsh and too stern" with all of my students.

My complaint isn't so much of what they say (I'm strict but I am fair with my students) but the fact none of them bring any complaints or concerns directly to me. They always go to one of the masters even though I'm the one teaching a majority of their kids. One woman recently threw a fit because she thinks I am particularly hard on her two sons and I single them out.

I'm sure some of you here have instructed in the past or maybe currently still do. Have you ever experienced this before?

Just wait until they tell you, "My little Bumpkin is ready for promotion!"

[Lebell]

i don't get those parents.
my parents would drop me off at judo on saturday afternoons so they got rid of me for 2 and ahalf hours.
most of the times i had to bycicle there myself.
kids nowadays are pussies.

[superninjagod]

I'm an instructor in my school, mostly with the children so obviously a big component of that is interacting with the parents. Majority of the parents I deal with are extremely obnoxious and annoying. Every day it's always the same old bullshit. Parents that talk on their phone during class.

Unacceptable, should have a sign up, and enforce it, if you can't their parents in line how can you keep the kids in line.

Parents that let screaming babies run around throwing ****.

Again unacceptable, they are ruining the environment for the other kids, you should single them out and ask them nicely to remove their babies and go for a walk

[quote=Alucard619;2313080]Like, have some fucking respect and courtesy and teach your children to not act like a spoiled little ****. Gets worse though.

Lately a lot of parents have been complaining that I'm "too harsh and too stern" with all of my students.

Tell the parents and the master to STFU. Then give a line about them there to learn discipline. They are getting what they paid for right?

My complaint isn't so much of what they say (I'm strict but I am fair with my students) but the fact none of them bring any complaints or concerns directly to me. They always go to one of the masters even though I'm the one teaching a majority of their kids. One woman recently threw a fit because she thinks I am particularly hard on her two sons and I single them out.

Some people are best to leave your Dojo, stand by your principles and you will attract the right students

I'm sure some of you here have instructed in the past or maybe currently still do. Have you ever experienced this before?

Yes, all I can say is don't accept any BS from parents and students, most of the time they want to test themselves with you and the dojo, once they learn that you wont waiver they will either back off or leave. Good in either case. There are plenty of fish in the sea

[Punisher]

I'm an instructor in my school, mostly with the children so obviously a big component of that is interacting with the parents. Majority of the parents I deal with are extremely obnoxious and annoying. Every day it's always the same old bullshit. Parents that talk on their phone during class. Parents that let screaming babies run around throwing ****. Like, have some fucking respect and courtesy and teach your children to not act like a spoiled little ****. Gets worse though. Lately a lot of parents have been complaining that I'm "too harsh and too stern" with all of my students.

My complaint isn't so much of what they say (I'm strict but I am fair with my students) but the fact none of them bring any complaints or concerns directly to me. They always go to one of the masters even though I'm the one teaching a majority of their kids. One woman recently threw a fit because she thinks I am particularly hard on her two sons and I single them out.

I'm sure some of you here have instructed in the past or maybe currently still do. Have you ever experienced this before?

It is understandable that a parent would feel more comfortable going to your supervisor, especially if they think you are being unfair to their child. This is no different than any other profession. If I had a problem with my child's school teacher, I might speak to the principal. If I had a problem with the cashier at McDonald's I would most likely ask to speak to their manager.

As others have said, you will never please everybody, and it is useless to try, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't listen to what they have to say. I think you owe it to youself, your school, and your students to ask yourself if any of these compliants have merit. As an instructor I've made tons of mistakes, we all do. Admitting thse mistakes and making changes is one of the things that makes the difference between a good instructor and a bad one.

My Master fired me from my first teaching job because I told a group of kids that what I was teaching them that day was for when someone was trying to kill you and you might have to kill them to make them stop.

Since we were teaching knife defenses that day what I told them was technically true, however several of the parents of the kids complained. When he told me I would no longer be teaching the class, my instructor told me that "Parents don't sign their 9-year olds up for karate so they can confront their own mortality". I understood his point, but couldn't understand why we taught children that age knife defense anyway. 15 years later, I run my own school and I don't teach those things until I'm sure a student is emotionally enough to handle it.

In your specifc case, are your standards for your students different than those of your Masters, especially for the ages and ranks you are teaching? You say you are stern but fair, but is that how you are percieved? To the kids see you as supportive and helpful, or just as being mean and impossible to please. One of the best compliments I ever hear a kid give an instructor was "You're mean, but in a nice way".

I know you wrote the post because you are obviously frustrated, but you don't sound like you like instructing very much. Not everyone is cut out to be teaching kids. You obviously sound like you'd much rather be teaching adults, which are typically more serious students. If you are going to continue to teach kids, you are going to have be to be realsitic about their behavior and how they learn. They are not little adults. I started karate at the age of 5, and was an instructors worst nightmare, an uncoordinated ADD kid with a smart mouth. Whenever I feel the urge to complain about kids not taking their training seriously enough, all I have to do is pop an old VHS tape into my VCR to see I was just like them and most of the time worse.

All this being said, there should be standards and boundaries for both parents and students. We isssue a short and clear list of "School Rules" that include rules for students and parents and the rules are clearly posted around the school. Since I did that, it is very rare that I'll have an obnoxious parent on a cell phone, an uncontrollable toddler, or trying to coach from the sidelines. If your school has such a thing, maybe it is time for your Master to issue a reminder, if not, I suggest he make some.

[Tom .C]

Parents are profit and teachers are overhead.