Have you ever had a parent call you and ask you to call their child in the morning to wake them up from school? I’ve had parents with kids as young as 10 years old tell me they couldn’t do anything with their kids and they were close to giving up — AT 10!
Like you said, a few days of doing work - real work - would be good for them. Of course, the parents can’t drag them out of their comfy basement room complete with ipod, stereo, xbox, big screen TV, video games. Not many 10 year olds would choose differently
I can't say that I have, but I have one student now (9th grader) both parents are out of the picture. He lives with his grandfather (grandparents are divorced). The rand father told me that he can't get him out of bed on Saturday mornings to do chores around the hosue before noon.
Like you said, a few days of doing work - real work - would be good for them. Of course, the parents can’t drag them out of their comfy basement room complete with ipod, stereo, xbox, big screen TV, video games. Not many 10 year olds would choose differently. And that is exactly what this young man has. During his most recent IEP meeting he told us that he frequently stays up till 3-4 in the moring listening to music, playing HALO, etc...
Simple solution take all that stuff away. Of course that requires adults to act like adults.
These sound like parents who love and care about their children and are desperate for help.
I am certain that since you are a professional the contempt for these parents that is evident in your post was not reflected in your voice or conversation with them.
I am certain that your professionalism recognized that these were parents who loved their children and were seeking much needed **help**!
I am certain that, as a professional, you knew of all the school services, and private and public agencies, that would help these parents learn more effective parenting skills.
I am certain that since you are a professional that you follow up with the child, the parent, and the counseling agencies to see that these kids and their parents didn't fall through the bureaucratic cracks.