Apples Don’t Fall Far From the Tree

Now, I work in special education, and needless to say, there are some truly inspirational parents out there who give 110% to their children. However, those parents don’t make for good blogging, and just when I’m starting to worry about our capability of raising another human being, one of the…well…not so devoted parents reminds me that no matter how bad of a parent I’ll be, I can’t possibly be as ridiculous as them.

In the four years I’ve worked in the schools, I never fail to be under-amazed by parents. I do understand that there are a variety of socioeconomic, tragic, and unfortunate situations that often lead to less than stellar parenting skills, but today truly lead to an all time low.

For the first time in four years, a parent actually fell asleep…or perhaps past out…while talking on the phone with me. No, I’m not exaggerating. After 4 rings, I was greeted with a more than groggy, “hello”. When I asked for the parent, I got a half grunted, “uh huh.” I then introduced myself and explained the reason for my call was to set up two separate meetings regarding her child. After giving the first date and time, I got another grunted, “uh huh.” Then, I went on to give the suggested time for the second meeting only to be responded to by silence. After a few moments, I heard what can only be described as snoring or gurgling. I shyly asked, “Are you still there?” only to receive more snoring. I then more loudly asked, “Can you hear me?” Again, snorty gurgling. Finally, I just gave a rather loud, “hello!” Alas, I got another half hearted “ah huh”. As my office mates can attest, at this point I just wanted to get off the phone lest I burst out laughing right in her ear.

So, I quickly repeated the dates and times and waited through a few more seconds of silence before asking, “Okay?” I did get an, “okay” in return and considered it appropriate to hang up quickly and then relay my story to all four of my curious office mates.

Now, I know that we will not be perfect parents, but I can say with fair certainty that I will never fall asleep and/or pass out while talking on the phone with my child’s teachers. So, thank you under-amazing parent. I now have a renewed confidence in my future parenting abilities.