by Erica Braunovan, trustee for Kitchissippi-Somerset
Students were back at school on September 8, while contract negotiations continue. My ever curious children have been asking: “Mom, what’s a strike?”
We know all too well that kids are sponges. Many of us have had our kids share their newly absorbed learnings aloud at some very awkward moments!
During times of labour negotiations, kids may be absorbing all kinds of ideas from a variety of sources, which may lead to interesting questions for you. Here are some points to keep in mind when talking to your kids about ongoing labour issues in schools.
Our kids interact with teaching, administrative and support staff every day. Passing our judgements or our positions onto our kids may not help these interactions. Plus, we can’t always control how kids repeat what they absorb. Answer questions as neutrally as possible explaining different sides.
If your child wants to know what the dispute is all about, you could try explaining that the groups and people who run the schools are trying to figure out how to make them work best. However, sometimes people disagree on how to do that, which means it takes longer to figure it out.
And if your child wonders why people are angry, answer that schools and education are very important to people, which means stronger feelings.
Depending on what your child hears, they may become anxious about how they will be affected. Some kids may be worried about grades and graduation, others may be worried they’ll have to go to school on weekends. Get to the source of their anxiety and work through it with them. Resolving their specific worry will be easier than trying to solve the whole labour issue for them.
Lastly, learning is the priority and all of us want our children’s educations to continue uninterrupted. Kids can do their part by paying attention and putting in the effort in spite of distractions. That’s easier said than done in some cases, I know. You could try explaining that you have distractions at your job, but the work still needs to be done.
If you’ve talked about the labour issues at schools with your kids, young or old, I hope you’ll share how the conversations went. Connect with me at facebook.com/ericabraunovan.
Updates and Events:
A number of exciting changes have taken place at Centretown schools over the summer, including yard improvements at Glashan Public School and Centennial Public School.
I would also like to remind people that Ottawa Public Health is currently checking to make sure that all vaccination records for all Ottawa area schools are up to date. A notice will be going home in the coming weeks and months to those families who still need to update their records. Please make sure your student’s record is up to date.