Preschool teacher talking about election with kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A LOT of people were crying yesterday. For me, it's not because I'm sad or bitter that "my team lost" but because i'm genuinely scared - for my future, my child's, and my friends who are minorities, gay, female, not-Christian, etc.

Yesterday a 30-person meeting was canceled an hour before it was meant to start because the speaker was too distraught to attend. People are REALLY upset.

Just tell your DD, since she's so small, that he's going to make decisions that are bad for adults, but you'll be fine, and he's not mean to children.

A preschool teacher should NOT say negative things about our future president. No matter how REALLY upset they are.

OP, I do think you should say something to the teacher and the director.

She wasn't teaching a lesson about politics. She was overwhelmed by something and cried. It's like saying "My DD's preschool teacher's mom died and she discussed being sad and missing her mom so should I be upset she spoke about death to children?"

Oh please. I have never recommended that a poster speak to a teacher or director about a problem, and in the case of a preschool teacher crying about a dead parent, I wouldn't (although they should take time off if they're crying during the day).

Saying negative things about our future president is unprofessional, juvenile, and wrong. If the teacher is crying uncontrollably, then take time off. Or quit.

That's not an option for everyone. Sometimes people have to power through as best they can in upsetting times. People are people. The teacher was upset and that is going to come up in a classroom with a bunch of preschoolers. If the teacher is otherwise a good teacher, I would let it go. If this is one in a series of demonstrations of less than stellar conduct, then speak with the director about it.

For what it's worth, most of the teachers at my DD's elementary school were pretty upset yesterday, and the ones I spoke to said that their kids wanted to talk about it - even the 3 and 4 year olds. Not everyone totally insulates their kids from politics. DD is in first grade, and she knew things were bad when she woke up because I was crying and DH was really sad as well. When she asked why we were upset, we straight up told her, "The election didn't go the way we hoped it would go, and we are worried about the bad policies that will get pushed through in the next 4 years."

[Anonymous]

Eh, it'll blow over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's pretty screwed up. I wouldn't follow-up with the director about it because it seems like a one-off thing that many people were upset about, but I'd make it clear that there's nothing to fear (even if I wasn't so sure of that myself).

Unless it happens again, I'd let this go, too. If the teacher made a habit of discussing politics, that would be one thing, but a lot of people were genuinely upset yesterday. Talk to your kid and cut the teacher some slack.

No, I don't agree. I really understand how upset the teacher was. And I think she's allowed her period of mourning. However, she has to separate her professional self from her personal politics. What the teacher did is completely unprofessional. As a teacher, you are teaching all children and you don't have the right to inject your personal politics onto innocent children who don't understand that their teacher and their parents may have different political views. You don't have the right to tell preschool children that their parents elected a bad man and scare them about a choice their parents made. This is grossly overstepping your professional ethics.

I have no problem if older children ask about politics when they have a little more understanding, and teachers sharing their opinions in a way that the children understand that there are different points of view, but in this case, preschoolers have no understanding of the political process or the issues and concerns. They also don't understand perspectives. To them, there is right and wrong. There is a real problem if the teacher and their parents are teaching them different rights and wrongs. Framing your disgust with the president elect by calling him a "bad man" and essentially characterizing him as the boogey man is a gross professional error and should be reported to the principal. It's fine to be sad and upset, but you need to put your grief aside. If the kids ask, just let them know that you were upset/disappointed/whatever by some news but that it doesn't concern them. Any teacher who could not find a way to put on their teacher face, and distract the children from the teacher's different mood, should not be going to work.

[Anonymous]

In my DD's classroom, the teacher insisted that each DC tell him who their family supported and voted for, even if they didn't want to participate he ordered them to do so. Got it, he's a baby and is upset, but these are children. When he got to my DD she said she doesn't do politics, her parents told her to stay out of it. He told her this is my class and you have to do what I say, but she was prepared as we stood her to stand her ground about staying out of this lunacy of en election year. She told him no, my mother tops you and I will listen to her over you, should we call her? He backed off and apologized later for backing her in a corner, but I think he only did this because he obviously knew she would share this with us later. God, the professionalism of some teachers has disappeared with their allegiance to the unions. So sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my DD's classroom, the teacher insisted that each DC tell him who their family supported and voted for, even if they didn't want to participate he ordered them to do so. Got it, he's a baby and is upset, but these are children. When he got to my DD she said she doesn't do politics, her parents told her to stay out of it. He told her this is my class and you have to do what I say, but she was prepared as we stood her to stand her ground about staying out of this lunacy of en election year. She told him no, my mother tops you and I will listen to her over you, should we call her? He backed off and apologized later for backing her in a corner, but I think he only did this because he obviously knew she would share this with us later. God, the professionalism of some teachers has disappeared with their allegiance to the unions. So sad.

I have a really hard time believing that a preschool teacher demanded that children tell everyone who their parents voted and then threatened them if they refused to participate.

[Anonymous]

I teach in a very small preschool/elementary school, and most of the teachers were very upset yesterday. We all left it at home or in the office. We talked amongst ourselves, but not in class. I'm sure if one of the kids had brought it up, we would have addressed it, but not insert our personal politics. The classroom isn't the place.

I like the way my DS5's teacher addressed it: she told them during circle time that people have different feelings about what happened, and you might not agree with your friends, so let's not talk about it here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:speak to the teacher to get her version of what happened. kids are not always reliable.

---teacher

+1 THIS, OP. Fact-check with the teacher.

And to your kid, even in preschool you can tell her something about the balance of power (the three branches of government). (side-note; the balance of power does not mean Republican or Democrat; so it doesn't matter that R controls executive and legislative branch for this talk.)

When I was very little, I overheard some adults going on about Mondale and I thought if he was elected, we'd all die. I remember bursting out in tears. omg it's SO inappropriate to do this to kids. If the teacher was upset and couldn't control her tears, she should have just said that her candidate didn't win and it made her sad. That's at the minimum. If she was able to, she could also add that in elections, someone always wins and someone always loses and there is another election in four years.

Sorry, I think this teacher is really unprofessional in this regard. I can totally excuse the falling apart part...but it's her explanation, and the scaring of the kids--it's really a violation of the trust that we give our teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A LOT of people were crying yesterday. For me, it's not because I'm sad or bitter that "my team lost" but because i'm genuinely scared - for my future, my child's, and my friends who are minorities, gay, female, not-Christian, etc.

Yesterday a 30-person meeting was canceled an hour before it was meant to start because the speaker was too distraught to attend. People are REALLY upset.

Just tell your DD, since she's so small, that he's going to make decisions that are bad for adults, but you'll be fine, and he's not mean to children.

Everything about this post is absurd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A LOT of people were crying yesterday. For me, it's not because I'm sad or bitter that "my team lost" but because i'm genuinely scared - for my future, my child's, and my friends who are minorities, gay, female, not-Christian, etc.

Yesterday a 30-person meeting was canceled an hour before it was meant to start because the speaker was too distraught to attend. People are REALLY upset.

Just tell your DD, since she's so small, that he's going to make decisions that are bad for adults, but you'll be fine, and he's not mean to children.

You do not tell a child the president will make decisions that are bad for adults. He isn't even president yet.

I was distraught yesterday, but I wouldn't pass that onto my children. I held it together when I was with my son, and he's not even old enough to understand.