Some parents aren't doing enough

 Some parents are not doing enough?

 

Have you ever noticed that there are some parents who never show up to volunteer?  Maybe do not even attend conferences or respond to email in a timely fashion?

Did you know that over 1/4^th of all families in our country are led by a single parent?

And yes, there is a connection between the two.   The majority of households led by a single parent are led by a woman.  The average salary in the US for a woman between the ages of 35-57 is about $57,000.  The average single parent has two children.  The majority of single women households are either the only income producing parent or are struggling to get child support paid on time or at all.

Single parents have at least two full time jobs, if they are fortunate.  The first job is the one that is fixing dinner, buying clothes, packing lunches, arranging day care or after school care, balancing the family budget and making arrangements for child care when a child is sick.  The second job is the one that is bringing in that $57,000.  When a single parent gets home from work, the first job starts.  There are notes and notices from school, dinner to fix, homework to get done, baths and getting ready for bed.  When mom finally collapses (and single parents with custody are overwhelmingly moms), is it any wonder that emails from school and/or volunteer opportunities get overlooked.  Evening meetings represent a new round of child care challenges.  You can forget about “me” time or heaven forbid, adult social time.

What does this mean to the children we face in the classroom every day.   Yearbooks, class trips, may not be covered by very limited disposable income.  Fashionable logoed clothes might be out too.  These kinds of situations can create behavior problems for kids.  No one likes to be the low person on the totem pole.  Kids don’t like to feel that their parents can’t provide for them. They are torn between protecting their parents and wanting to be like the other kids. Teachers often blame kids when parents are unresponsive. 

Education is a critical service for a child’s future success.  Education works best when parent(s) and teachers are linked in tandem to help pull the sleigh.  Those of us in education need to figure out a way for single parents to be full participants in their child’s education.

The reason some parents are doing enough is that they are already doing too much.