My mom, Lisa Payne, is a third-grade teacher at Armstrong Elementary, while I am in my sophomore year at TRHS. Growing up, I’ve come to realize that being raised by a teacher has been both challenging and comforting. There are perks I enjoy that come along my mother’s job; with science fairs and school plays taking place all year, I have plenty of opportunities to get in hours for Beta club. My mother also makes an excellent tutor for math, which has helped a lot with my high school classes.

However, there are cons to this life as well. There is a stereotype that follows around the students who have parents who teach. We are expected to be overachievers and perform at the top of our class. While this is not true for all of us, there are always people who simply assume that being a child of a teacher makes you a super genius.  Another downside is that I do not get to spend a lot of time with my mom. On top of grading papers, lesson planning, attending meetings and school-sponsored events, a lot of my mother’s time is dedicated to her school life. “I feel like I do not get a lot of time to be with my family, and it upsets me because that is where I want to be,” she told me.

I am not the only person who has mixed feelings about my parent’s job. TRHS sophomore Toby Foster’s mother is a guidance counselor at TRHS. Even though she is not a teacher, Foster agrees that having a parent at school has both positives and negatives. “I get to go down to her room to get food. But at the same time, she always knows what is going on at school and with my grades,” Foster says. Junior Zoe Brailsford has the same opinion.  As the daughter of Ms. Brailsford, TRHS’ keyboarding teacher, Zoe says that she enjoys having her mom around for support. However, if they get into a disagreement, she feels like she has to hear about it both at home and at school.

Having a parent who teaches can definitely make the school journey more complicated, no matter what age you are. Sometimes, it can be difficult to share my mother with 20 other students, but I would not trade her for the world.