About Parent-teacher Relationship And It's Effect On The Student (Essay Sample)

An Emotional Response
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An Emotional Response
Introduction
The parent-teacher relationship is an essential component in the development of any child. This relationship is similar to an arranged marriage CITATION Mos13 \l 1033 (Mosle, 2013). Neither side in this relationship get a lot to say about other in this matter. On one hand, parents and teachers can be defined as natural adversaries not due to the dynamics of the relationship, but because of the type of relationship that develops from the roles described by the social structure of any society. These roles can lead to an emotional response in parents because of the separation between parents and teachers as child goes to school. The main fear in parents is that teachers will ultimately replace them in their children’s affections. Attachment with someone is a natural and emotional process which is optimal in the affectionate relationship of parents with their children. This strong relationship also grows as children satisfies various emotional needs of the parents. Despite various research revealing the fact that additional attachments don’t weaken the primary parental relationship, parents still fear the loss CITATION Bak04 \l 1033 (Baker & Manfredi-Petitt, 2004). Parents are also inhibited from developing relationships with teachers as they fell jealous and sense of competition with teachers. This work explains in detail certain aspects associated with this emotional response. In addition, various steps that can be followed to minimize this response by parents have been discussed.
The element of fear among the parents originates from the different perspectives on the approach and view relating to child. The culture defines the roles in somewhat ambiguous manner as parents are considered the ultimate responsibility of well-being of their child CITATION Ges15 \l 1033 (Gestwicki, 2015). Parents tend to be highly emotional and protective while invested in their children CITATION Law03 \l 1033 (Lawrence-Lightfoot, 2003). They have specific expectations, intense feelings and goals for their children. In addition, parents and children have an element of connectedness between them. However, teachers are provided specific and rational guide. Parents and teachers must understand their respective roles so that certain fears will not emerge in any of them.
There are number of ambivalent emotions that contribute towards this fear of parents. Any parent mostly wants the child to be happy and independent in his/her absence. However, he resents the perception of teacher taking over the child in some regard. This develops an emotion of insecurity among the parents. They feel like losing the child to other people i.e. teachers. These emotions give rise to the feeling of losing their own identity in the eyes of child. Due to the sense of insecurity, parents may also feel that they are now not the top priority in child’s eyes. Insecurity may turn into the fear of abandonment or even fear of being replaced by teachers.
Another conflicting emotion that can develop in this case is competition. Parents tend to develop competition with teachers in all areas. However, the main competition is for child’s affection. The competition is further intensified as child is attached to both parents and teachers. Although in general, teachers are not immune from this competition of child’s affection. This is particularly true when the emotional needs of teacher are not being fully met beyond the scope of classroom CITATION Ada00 \l 1033 (Adams & Christenson, 2000). Although a warm and affectionate relationship with each child is essential for any teacher, the competition with the parents intensifies when the teacher thinks that he can do a better job with the child as compared to parents. In some scenarios, teachers can become the reason of this fear in parents as he tries to act as a substitute parent in not so perfect situation. This engenders suspicion and fear in parents as well. So teacher must also understand that emotions of fear and jealousy are natural and hidden factors. Similarly, majority of parents believe that no one else can do a better job on their children as they can. Thus, teachers must help parents to feel that they are not being replaced from their important position. Also, parents need to understand the emotional attachment between teacher and child.
Guilt is another emotion that creeps into parents as they feel deep down their heart that they are not involved as much as they should be. This can be because of the other obligations or work. There are many demands on parents along with the unnatural feeling of perfection. Also, the feeling of not doing as much as should be done transform into the feeling of guilt. This emotion can result into hidden barrier between parents and teachers as parents feel inadequate for their children. As one consequence, parents may also react unreasonably while receiving unfavorable feedback regarding the abilities and behavior of their child.
Parents may also feel reluctant to openly express their concerns due to cultural beliefs and roles regarding the authoritative position of the teacher. They may feel unsure about the reaction of their concerns after sharing. In the present age, parents and teachers may experience mutual tension in their relationship as many young children are cared by adults. This causes an overlap of teachers’ and parents’ sphere of influence. The caregivers are mostly influential in the first three or so years of any child CITATION She12 \l 1033 (Sheridan, Bovaird, & Glover, 2012). Majority of these caregivers are educators are sharing in the parenting in early childhood. The cultural beliefs in societies are not yet moved to clearly define the roles of parents and teachers within this new context. This creates a...