Three weeks.

Parents are insane
I hope I am never going to be a parent. They day the child comes into the world, their sanity seems to leave it. About 60% find it again in a few years, but there is a good portion of the parent population out there that seem very happy to stay permanently insane. Take for instance, the parents of the 26 children I teach. As far as I knew, they were all sane, intelligent, and even highly educated people. But then, WHAP! CRAZY! Perhaps it's seasonal, like allergies... it seems to coincide uncannily with Report Card time. And the most common symptom? Hit the teacher when she is down!

In the last three weeks, I have had three parents (that I know of) go completely nuts, send me long, long emails about what I am doing wrong in the class. Of course, some of them actually did condescend to throw me a compliment before launching the complaint grenade, but I must say that the vast majority of what was said fits more in the "Here's how to do your job - because you suck, you know" category.

Not only do they email me their vague innuendos and snide comments, but they first get together in an 'ad-hoc' parent advisory group, behind my back, to discuss what they should email me. Then, they Cc the resulting email to the entire parent group for my class. How expansively generous of them!

However, things seem to be looking better. The three parents who were evidently behind this mysterious agenda suddenly decided to haul their kids out of the school and enroll them elsewhere, with mutterings of discontent about "The Situation" and "The Unresolved Issues" I, for my part, am feeling relieved (though my feathers are still in some disarray), and even rather sorry for the teacher who is getting them in her class (I know the teacher where they all went).

The break in the clouds is the fact that the other, non-crazy, parents have made such an effort to come forward with expressions of dismay, sympathy, and geniune concern for how I am "holding up" and "coping" with the "bad hand" I was apparently dealt. That, and the incredibly supportive staff at my school almost - almost - make all of this worth it.

Almost.

In the meantime, since I still have not an inkling of what they were really up to, I will continue ho hum, surviving until Xmas break. Report cards go home Monday, and conferences are on Thursday and Friday.

Three weeks.

I will survive.

(I hope)