I have been pretty busy at work all December, but I don't mind. Especially since this is my best December after the beginning of my infertility. Which means this is the best December in the last 12 years. I almost didn't feel any sadness at all.
I had lovely evening teaching German - not only the kid I usually teach, but also his little brother, for the very first time.
Before going home I chatted a bit with boys' mother. I commented very silly teaching methods of the little boy's teacher and boys' mother said: "Well, this is just because she doesn't have kids of her own so she knows nothing about teaching."
I couldn't be quiet. In the last few years I refuse to be quiet.
I said: "I also don't have kids and I know a lot about teaching kids. It is just because this teacher is so young and she doesn't have the experiences."
I won the conversation. Since that mother really knows I am good with her kids, despite being childless.
(what she doesn't know is that I am so good at teaching her kids because I don't have kids - I have time and energy and creativity to think about the methods that will help her kids the most).
Brava, Klara! People say these comments without thinking, and I am so glad you challenged her, made her think, and hopefully she will think before saying something like that again. I love that you say,"I won the conversation." Yes, you did!
ReplyDeleteWay to go Klara. People without children can be very good at teaching because we have experiences with a lot of kids (hundreds or sometimes thousands) as opposed to having experience with just one or two of our own offspring.
ReplyDeleteI refuse to be quiet too. :)
Well done, Klara! I am proud of you! <3
ReplyDeleteGood for you, Klara, for speaking up & calling her out. You definitely won that one! :)
ReplyDeleteActually I think that people without children tend to be better educators as they strive for perfection and they kind of have no limits for their hopes of what they want to achieve. People with children on the other hand will rarely admit that their behavior with their own kids was anything less than perfect and that limits their imagination.
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