Kindergarten teacher Jessica Gentry found overwhelming support on Facebook when she posted she was throwing in the towel. Her viral post about leaving a job she loved brought a shocking truth to the forefront: Parents today stink. While teachers in past generations cited pay as the reason to find a new career, today’s teachers are exhausted emotionally from dealing with the challenges presented by poor parenting. (1)
Kindergarten Teacher’s Viral Post
“I think it’s easier for people to believe that I left teaching because of the lousy pay,” says Jessica in an essay she shared on Facebook at the time she quit her job. “It was easier for my former HR director to believe it was because I found something that I was more passionate about. Some would allow them to assume that… let them be comfortable in their assumptions because your truth may lead to discomfort of others. Well… I’m not some. That ain’t me.” (1)
Bad Parenting Challenges Kindergarten Teachers
Parents won’t like her reasons for leaving, and most will give her reasons no further thought. However, her exhaustion stems from dealing with kids who are victims of a new society and the acceptable approach to parenting that comes with it. (1)
“Kids are kids,” she says. “PARENTING has changed. SOCIETY has changed. The kids are just the innocent victims of that. Parents are working crazy hours, consumed by their devices, leaving kids in unstable parenting/co-parenting situations, terrible media influences… and we are going to give the excuse that the KIDS have changed?” (1)
Kindergarten Teachers And Technology
She ties poor behavior in the classroom to parents not providing their kids a more stable environment. Parents lack kindness and ignore their children giving priority to their handheld devices. This, declares Jessica, is the reason kids don’t thrive but act out in the classroom instead. (1)
And the whole technology thing begins at home, but now exists in the classroom. Screen time for small children has increased with technology used in schools. “So, forget the basics of relationship building and hands-on learning,” she wrote. “Kids already can’t read social cues and conduct themselves appropriately in social settings… let’s toss more devices at them because it looks good on our website. During an interview, one division asked me ‘how are you with technology? That’s important to us.’ Uhhh… I hear Bobo the chimpanzee is pretty tech-savvy… I consider myself pretty great with kids.” (1)
Kindergarten Teachers Want Face Time
She feels technology decreases the all-important face time kids need to learn and thrive. “Just this year, a new math assessment was introduced for K teachers,” she says. “We had to attend a training on a school day (time missed with students) then it took us THREE WEEKS to administer it… one on one… to 21 students. Such. A. Waste. All of the info I could have told you about them without taking away from precious instructional time.” (1)
Kindergarten Teachers Burned Out
“My mental and physical health was in jeopardy every single day. Knowing that your kids need and deserve more than they’re getting,” says Jessica. “Sitting in one meeting after another, begging for more support, only to be told ‘don’t lose sleep over them’… when you LOVE your kids and are PASSIONATE about your mission… these messages tear you apart.” (1)
Jessica’s new career puts her in front of teachers struggling with the same issues she did. Her answer is to keep “advocating for those kiddos” by helping teachers “escape the stress of the classroom by creating healthy habits.” (1)
