Counselor

I lose my title as teacher and gain the title of counselor on Parent/Teacher Conference nights.

People have problems, and they are not afraid to talk about them. To their child's English teacher, history teacher, math teacher, science teacher, or anyone else who is willing to listen. They get five minutes.

Go.

"My son is verbally and physically abusive to me. I kicked him out of the house, and that was when he realized I was serious. He's been much more civil to me now."

"My daughter has been lying to my husband and me, and we finally figured it out last week."

"I don't know how to get him to do his homework. I can't even get him out of bed in the morning. Do you have any suggestions to help me get him to school?"

"I very much use the hands off approach. It's his deal. He can either do his work, or he can play video games. It's up to him."

"I don't know what to do anymore. I try and I try and I try, and it results in Fs."

"We first tried the hands-on approach, which didn't work. Then we tried hands-off. Let him figure it out. Now we're back onto the hands-on approach. We hound him about everything. Nothing works, though. Can you help?"

The list goes on and on. I'm not a parent, parents. I have no idea how hard it is to be a parent of a teenagers. What I can tell you is the hands-off approach doesn't work. At all. I'd take a guess that actually being a parent, taking rule of the roost, and giving the child some discipline is going to go a long way. Just a guess.

And I'm a teacher not a counselor.