Parents aren’t doing kids any favours by not having the confidence to set boundaries at home, teachers’ leader says
Children who aren’t taught boundaries at home and are “waited on hand and foot” won’t respect authority in school, it has been warned. Speaking at the annual Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) conference in Manchester, general secretary of the ATL Mary Bousted said, “Children without boundaries at home resent boundaries imposed at school." Mary said parents need to be more confident to set boundaries. “For example, how many parents ask their children to contribute to the running of the household, doing jobs?” Mary went on to suggest that kids who grow up being over-indulged by their parents are the ones that’ll cause mayhem in schools. “We are not doing out children any favours if we make them little Buddhas at home and it certainly doesn’t do them any favours at school,” she said. “We need to be more confident as a society in society in saying, you can go so far, but no further. You can have this, but not that,” explained Mary. Parents’ approach to discipline was also recently called into question after a survey revealed teachers have experienced physical violence as well as constant low-level disruption in schools. Are you guilty of spoiling your child and do you think it’s reflected in their behaviour? Let us know your thoughts…
