Willow Glen, California Since 1992
Opinion
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Graham crackers, naps and time off for working parents is needed (By Deborah Taylor-Hollis) Jackie Kennedy Onassis once said, "If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do well matters very much." Yet I see that we, as a people, hold the belief that, while the children are our future, teaching is the most noble profession, and there is nothing like being a good parent to make your church proud, your school great and your country strong. There is no way that you, as a parent, are going to be allowed to do any parenting if it happens during work hours. There is nothing more frustrating than to tell parents that they have to be involved with their children for their kids to succeed - parents who are shackled to their jobs and unable to do that work. Telling these parents that in order to spend time with their children they a) have to use vacation, b) should call in sick and lie about where they are, or c) need to beg another employee to cover and change shifts is about as supportive as a chain saw at a prostate check. The worst possible of all the parenting situations is not the lazy parent, the one-parent household or the grandparent as caregiver - it is the parents who, through no fault of their own, don't have any flexibility. I have been unable to fathom why there is not a statewide - if not nationwide - labor law that mandates shift changes or time off for working parents to attend teacher/parent conferences and back-to-school night. This amounts to an average of six hours a year per parent, yet you would think that that lost time (which is less than the average single employee spends in the bathroom during any given month, in my opinion) would be more than well-spent encouraging parents to be involved, to know what's happening at school and to model the best behaviors. Think again. The average wage earner in an hourly job is being told by his or her bosses that it is more important for them to man the checkout aisle with their five counterparts than it is to have two hours off for a parent/teacher conference. The message - that society will come to some kind of apocalyptic screeching halt if Joe Bob isn't there at the Quickie Mart serving hot dogs and selling lottery tickets today - is disgusting and extreme and very, very corporate America. While we may, as a nation, celebrate Mother's Day, demand that all parents raise the best citizens possible, and cry that teachers are the most wonderful persons in the world, the bottom-line, dollar-sucking, measle-mouthed, half-brained corporate louts who block legislation designed to help parents are quick to point out that they have businesses to run. They are also the first people to point out that, in America right now, we have so few well-educated citizens (especially in high-tech) that they need huge work visa escalations for foreign nationals to come to America and work for them, since they can't find anyone here to do it. Since when did it become impossible for the average working stiff to just show up for a parent/teacher conference day (a scheduled 30 minutes out of our lives that can do more good for an elementary school child than all the television ever invented, educational or not), let alone have to become involved for children with special needs, gifted students, and the learning impaired? What can employers be so damned afraid of? Are their employees - those janitors with the gray hair and the broken Accord - going to take their two hours in the fall and drive off to Reno for a wild betting spree instead? They can always bring in a note from the teacher to verify that they were actually doing the "most important job a person can do" (to quote from an old TV ad promoting better parenting skills about two decades ago). Now, of course, comes the hard part, where society as a whole makes the job of parenting not necessarily easier (short of paid vacations in Aruba every three months - and I don't think we can do that anyway). Although I have always thought that the several thousand school employees of any district should schedule around the several million parents and hold back to school nights or Saturday mornings if they really wanted more than just a token turnout, I can see how even that idea has its flaws. However, at this point, I wish to point the loaded gun of public opinion at corporate America's head and ask that burning question, "Do you think raising the future of society is worth six specially dedicated hours a year?" Deb is always ready to scream for change. Write her at DBHollis@svcn.com or care of this paper by snail mail. |
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