Scottish Preschool Teacher Says "Oh For the Love of God!"?

Question

And she told my son that the other children were laughing at him because he missed me and cried.

My son has been saying "Oh for the love of buttons" and "Oh for the love of this and that" and etc and today I think his teacher has forgotten to catch herself before saying the full thing.

I'm inclined to pull him from the preschool. Am I being too sensitive? Is this what to expect from Scottish prechools? Please help. I want to do the best for my little boy.

Answer 1

I am a pre-school supervisor and I unfortunatly know how difficult it is to say something then realise what you are about to say! I would not be concerned if he is saying "for the love of x*x" but if he ever says anything else I would definatly have a word with the pre-school teacher. Is there a teacher who is above this teacher? (such as a supervisor? Most pre-schools are commitee ran, maybe you could talk to the chair of the committee?) I definatly do not think that the fact she told your son that the other children were laughing at him is right! I think this is definatly something which should be spoken about with the pre-school supervisor or chair of the commitee! It may be easy to say that you shouldn't worry because you are moving in a few months, but this may be happening to other children or future children, so you should sort this out as soon as possible! Good luck!

Answer 2

Well if your son just started preschool then it is natural for him to be upset by you leaving. even if he's been there for a month it may have just kicked in. one girl in my class has been there for a year and just now started to get upset by her mom leaving. You have to ask yourself if anything new is going on in the home, or anywher else your son visits. as a preschool teacher, i don't always tell my parents if their child has been upset. Unless it lasts all day long (which is usually doesn't) then it's no big deal and it makes the parents upset and worrited about their child. about the love of god thing, there are worst things a teacher can say. like cussing. if you don't like it just let the teacher know. if you don't like any of the othe sayings, then your just being silly. we can't cuss in front of children, so we have to realease it somehow, i say fudgecicle all the time. the children think it's funny. about her telling your son that the other chilren we're laughing at him because he missed you, it could have been true, and she was just informing him that all of his crying is not helping him at all and that he needs to get in control. i would find out from the teacher what had happened. kids don't always tell the whole story because they forge the little details. about the teacher not telling you of the bruise, find out first if they had noticed it all of, especailly if it was in an area covered by clothing. children fall all the time, and unless i notice a bruise right away, i forget later on that they child had fallen.

Answer 3

I would say that you should pull him out of the preschool.  It sounds like this teacher is really bothering you.  If you don't agree with the way she treats your child, definitely pick another preschool!!!

Answer 4

Be thankful, it could be worse.

I would suggest that you schedule a confernce with the teacher. Tell her what you are hearing from your child. Being a early childhood adminstrator, I have heard teachers say things that they didn't think were bad, but they didn't realize that the kids were picking up on it. It maybe she just dosen't realize it.

If it continues after a confernce, and it bothers you, there are many other centers that will take your child. However, what happends there could be a lot worse.

Answer 5

I'm sorry but I do not understand the question.

Answer 6

Personally, I would look into the situation a little more.  I would ask the teacher to not say those things around my child.  I agree that she may not realize what your son is picking up and it may be unintentional, but she still needs to keep in mind what age level she's dealing with.

It may be because of my background and personality, but it really bothers me that instead of telling the other kids that laughing at your son and teasing him isn't nice and isn't something you do in her classroom, she's turning it around on your son.  One of the things that children that age need to learn is to be respectful of each others feelings.  Telling the child who is crying that he is being laughed at because he is crying rather than trying to comfort him in some way goes against that.  If we are looking to teach the child coping skills, he needs to first feel like his feelings are being taken into account rather than scorned and then be shown how to deal with those feelings.  

I would ask the teacher what she has been doing to help him get over his fear of being away from you.  I would also ask her what she thinks you should do to help him out with it.  Also, if you're being sensitive, maybe your child is sensitive as well.  Some kids just need more time with their parents than others.

I'm not saying to hide the child, but he IS only in preschool.  There was a time not so long ago when the idea of having a child that young be away from his parents everyday was seen as absurd.  It is only recently that everyone has decided preschool is completely needed.  If you think your child needs to stay home with you at this point in his life, it is YOUR decision.  You know your child best, much better than any of us do.

Good luck.

Answer 7

I would encourage you to not uproot your child from a pre-school class over the slip-of-the-tounge from a teacher.   It sounds like your child is not adjusting well to being left by you, though, and you should go to the teacher and enlist her help in getting him to adjust.  To go and criticize her to her face will not help you or your child, but to engage her assistance on helping your child adjust will make a much more positive result, and it will reinforce to your son that you know he can be separated from you and not cry.  If his peers of the same age are not crying when their parents leave them, then he needs some help learning  to cope with the separation.

If she is worth her salt, she would have some good ideas on how to make the separation from you much more smooth.  You don't want him to cry so much that he isolates himself from the other children, and if you yank him out of the classroom when he could have learned how to cope with the help of you and his teacher, you are sending an unspoken message to your child that you don't think he can be separated from you either.  

Sure, there are bad teachers, but I wouldn't move him out of there unless they are outright abusive and your child doesn't learn anything.  If your child cries a lot and doesn't adapt to his surroundings, he's going to carry a big target on his back for the rest of his schooling because nobody wants to play with the little boy who never participates because he is too busy being sad and weepy.  So you need to work with the teacher to help your son learn that you will come back to get him and he doesn't need to fear leaving you.  If he's crying all of the time, then he's probably annoying everyone and their patience is running out (even the teacher), which is why you need to step in and help him cope, not move him around to another environment.  In all fairness to you, your instincts are telling you that something is not right, but you need to find out if it really is the teacher, or if it's your son's coping skills.  If you ignore the possibility that your son is crying too much for his age, he'll definitely alienate himself socially from his peers.

Answer 8

Have you tried talking to the teacher about your concerns? And yes, I think you are being too sensitive. While I agree with your stance on taking the Lord's name in vain, I don't believe this is a good enough reason to pull your child from a school. You cannot shield your child from the world forever, and there are much worse things that he could see or hear than that phrase. What would you be inclined to say after a day dealing with a room full of preschool-age children? We should be more appreciative and understanding of the difficult job our teachers have - especially those who deal with younger children. Most teachers want and strive to do their best, but we are human, and we make mistakes. It does not mean we are unwilling to fix those mistakes, or that we are bad people. Think of the mistakes you make as a parent, and imagine you had 20 times the number of children...