A kid only gets 2 parents but lots of teachers

A kid only gets one set of parents but will have many many teachers. This was the theme of my impromptu conference today. The dad staggered into my room as I was filing papers looking like he had just been hit by a truck with the greeting of "Can I ask you a question or maybe 2 questions?" He was just beside himself wanting to know what to do about his child that was really good at playing but didn't want to read. This is a child whose parents conferenced with his 1st grade teacher on a very regular basis with no progress made in anyone's favor. SCORE hasn't fixed it and neither has moving on to second grade. Yelling , bribing and enabling don't seem to have solved the problem either. Hmmm... maybe there is something else going on. How about just being his dad, loving him and supporting him as best you can? There's no one else in the world that gets that honor and privilege. He gets one and only one dad, one and only one mom. Teachers will come and go in his life. You don't need to take on that role. How about playing with him? How about reading TO him and developing a love of language so what he does read he will enjoy? Parents take that BTSN talk so literally - no margin for the human condition. The teacher said read for 15 - 30 minutes, by God, we're going to read for 15 - 30 minutes, whether you like it or not! My response is always; when it becomes a battle at home, let me take over in the classroom. A child doesn't need to spend what precious little time he actually has with his parents fighting about reading when there is a high probability that there is something unusual going on in that little brain. Life is too short for family time to be fighting time.