If your Dad WAS a teacher...

[TripleB]

If your father was a teacher in a school, would you want to have him as a teacher?

I'm a 7th grade math teacher and my daughter is going to be in 7th grade next year. She wants to have me as her teacher but I'm not sure if it's a good idea or not...still weighing the positives and the negatives.

So, for those of you who are younger, do you think you would like (have liked) having your dad as your teacher?

Thanks for any input.

TripleB

[My_King]

Just sharing..........

My best friend in school was a teacher's daughter. She got a lot of hassles from the other kids because of it. Even I had problems because she was my best friend and I spent a lot of time at her house......

HOWEVER - her sister didn't have any problems at all. Go figure!

I think it depends on the child, the parent, the peers, and the maturity of the child. Is she able to separate school from home? Can she treat you as just another teacher? Can you treat her as just another student? At home, can she leave the teacher behind and be your daughter?

Very interesting.

[TripleB]

Just sharing..........

My best friend in school was a teacher's daughter. She got a lot of hassles from the other kids because of it. Even I had problems because she was my best friend and I spent a lot of time at her house......

I think it depends on the child, the parent, the peers, and the maturity of the child. Is she able to separate school from home? Can she treat you as just another teacher? Can you treat her as just another student? At home, can she leave the teacher behind and be your daughter?

Thanks for sharing and the input. If she wasn't asking for me to teacher then no question I would put her in another 'team.' We have 3 different teams at the school I teach.

What you mentioned is probably the one thing that worries me most. If I have to be 'tough' to one of her friends and she hears them (or anyone else) 'badmouthing' me, then how will she react. Will they hassle her because of the way I treat them.

I believe I can treat her as other students (I know it's not the same but I taught my nephew), she's mature for her age (and she's the oldest in her class - and tallest - 5'8" in 6th grade ), she seldom's says much in class so I think she will treat me the same.

Thanks again for your input.

TripleB

[Diggindeeper]

I'm not a teacher, but a Mom, of four--all grown now. But I never did even teach a Sunday School where one of my children would have been my student. Well, except for maybe a week of Vacation Bible School.

I just always felt that I was my children's Mom, and the--THE--teacher they would have longer than anyone in their life. But, I always felt it was better if they had teachers, and they had a Mom at home where they could tell me what their teacher was teaching them, or had said, or whatever.

I would be concerned that any discipline at home was left at home, and any discipline at school, I may have to be involved in that, too. Again, my Mom hat would be more appropriate to go to a Parent/teacher conference.

Am I making sense? I mean, I know what I'm trying to say, but don't know if I said it in a way to get my message across.

I vote:
Teacher at school
Dad (or Mom) at home

[serapheva]

I personally wouldn't have minded having one of my parents as a teacher. But I guess that depends on how your daughter is. I always hung out with my parents and went to the movies with them and everywhere when other kids acted like it wasn't "cool" or whatever, but I didn't care. I'd say her already wanting you to be her teacher is a good sign that it'd be okay.

[Cloudwalker]

I actually had one of my parents as my teacher at school. It was my mother and when I was in kindergarten. Back then most kindergartens in my area were just glorified babysitting service and mom didn't want that. It wasn't bad. Mom didn't play any favorites and my classmates didn't give me any problems.

[daughter]

My Dad is a teacher, and though he never formally taught me in a school situation, I do know that his input and support is largely responsible for me having had the confidence to get into Oxford. A Dad of a girl has a huge influence in her life, and can completely turn around her attitudes to all sorts of things. If you teaching your daughter would give her confidence in maths, then that would be a great gift. With my Dad it was literature and language that he schooled me in... if your daughter has no problem with you being her teacher, then I'd thank God for the privelege. Maths is a subject that lots of girls have problems with... if she's enough of a Daddy's girl that she really wants to spend more time with you in school, you might well give her a great advantage.

Okay... as you can guess, my answer is that there's no problem teaching your own kid. You can lay down ground rules as to how she's to behave in class, how, for example, she is to address you. (I think Sir would be more appropriate than Dad for example!) But honestly, I think it's a great opportunity for her to see you in a position of authority, and to learn from you a subject that will stand her in good stead all her life.

Pray about it? See what God says.

[CoffeeCat]

Everyone's brought up very, very good points, so I just have one question: are you able, professionally, to have your daughter in your classroom if there are other teachers available to teach her? The rules on this seem to vary from place to place; where I live, that would be considered a professional boundary that isn't normally crossed, just because it tends to be harder for a parent to remain objective, and to assess students diagnostically, summatively and formatively when they know them so well; certainly much better than the other students. Bias sometimes creeps in. It might be a LOT easier with Math, just because an answer there is either right or wrong. In another subject like English or History, it's all too easy to say "oh, I know how they were thinking, I know what they MEANT to say...." and mark THAT rather than the actual answer.

Just wondering.

All that aside, I bet your daughter would be just fine in your classroom. It seems to only be one period of the day anyway, and the experience might be great for you both! (just as long as her friends don't stop coming over if they're mad you failed them on a test. )

Edit to add: I bet many 7th grade girls would LOVE to have their dad as a teacher. I loved mine back then, but wouldn't have wanted him for math! He's an absolute whiz at it, and can factor crazy stuff in his head..... but he CAN'T explain the process of how he got there.

[matthew7and1]

If your father was a teacher in a school, would you want to have him as a teacher?

I'm a 7th grade math teacher and my daughter is going to be in 7th grade next year. She wants to have me as her teacher but I'm not sure if it's a good idea or not...still weighing the positives and the negatives.

So, for those of you who are younger, do you think you would like (have liked) having your dad as your teacher?

Thanks for any input.

TripleB

I would have been proud of my dad and wanted him as a teacher....

[Raptor]

I was homeschooled from 3rd grade up, and although we didn't always agree, I loved having my parents teach me. They taught me a lot of things that I probably wouldn't have listened to a regular teacher about. I have a burning passion for history that if I would have had any other teacher, I might not have.

As long as you treather as a student at school, and a daughter at home, I can see no reason there would be any problems.

-Raptor, out.