Monday, November 23, 2009

The new teacher

One of the toddler's teachers left in September.  This is very sad; we really liked her.  The daycare has been looking for a new teacher for a while and finally found one two weeks ago.  This teacher is a man.  On his first day, my husband happened to walk the kids in at the same time as her other teacher, who told my husband about Mr. Teacher.  Not in a "hey, guess what?" way either.  She was really concerned about this teacher being a man and told my husband the school would be sending home letters about this and went on and on like it was a big deal.  When my husband called to tell me, I was shocked.  Who cares if he is a man?  It is not like he is all alone with a bunch of girls or something - there are two teachers in her room, the two 2-year old rooms share a bathroom and do most of their activities in a group together, which means there are usually four teachers around the kids.  I let my husband, my dad, my father-in- law, and my brother-in-law take my daughter to the bathroom; this guy is a teacher, I expect he will be professional about things.  We've met him, he is a nice guy, late 20s/early 30s, perfectly normal.  He has been here for weeks and apparently there are still some issues with parents not liking this idea.  I watch lots of crime dramas on tv and tend to jump to scary thoughts, but in this case, I guess I believe in the goodness of people and trust that Mr. Teacher has no alternative plan and likes kids the same way Mrs. Teacher likes kids.

Is it just me?  Am I abnormal for thinking this is perfectly fine?  I just really do not get it, I think this is great.  He provides a different kind of authority figure and a way for kids to see that men and women can do all different types of jobs.  But in this school, my opinion is apparently in the minority!

1 comment:

  1. That is so weird that parents would be like that! I can't imagine just because he is a guy they have issues with him taking care of kids. Some of my best teachers were males! Obviously day care ran a background check and he should be fine! Ben has teacher that although is a rotating teacher (when they need him) who is great! Come to find out I went to elementary school and middle school with him.

    I think if anything, if children do not have an everyday male presence in their life, that they can be dependable, fun, loving and be a great role model.

    That disturbs me and saddens me that people rush to think that this guy is not fit for a job. Is it suppose to be womans work?

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