Anyone run into a parent who overreacts too harshly to an issue with their kid?
I struggle a lot with parents who are either too defensive or too checked out to help when I reach out with behavioral issues, so I’m used to that. But I seem to have run into the opposite with a kid in my class who’s really a good kid and now I feel horrible.
I teach 5th grade and this is the point of the year where the class just gets a little nutty and is ready to check out for middle school. Had a situation with a really good, nice and kind kid made an off color joke and it riled the class up and caused a bit of friction. Just wanted to make the parents aware and see if they could talk to the kid and help emphasize a few behavioral expectations. Long story short, the dad wrote back that he was horrified to hear with and that there would be severe consequences at home. Kid didn’t even come to school the next day. Yesterday he showed up and looked like he has just returned home from war. Won’t look at me, won’t engage. I tried to talk to him about it during a break and nothing. He made a comment at the end of the day along the lines of “my parents will kill me if they get another email from you.”
I went back and looked at the email and maybe I was a little harsh? I just wanted some backup, and now one of the best kids in the class just looks defeated. Not sure what to do. There’s probably not much I can at this point. Ugh.