Jj is for Jottings 18. How More Routine and Fewer Choices Make for Smarter and Happier Children. Part 1.
Here is the first part of an article which appeared in the Pulse section of the Border Mail on February 6 last year, and it bears repeating. We will visit other parts of the same article in other Jottings.
IT’s 9.30pm and little Johnny is sprawled on the couch, fast asleep in front of a gruesome television crime drama.
The bright green remains of the freezer’s last three icypoles stain his lips and cheeks.
A laptop lies open on the carpet next to an exercise book, its screen saver blinking almost in remonstration of homework not done.
Aah, but how’s the serenity?
The golden silence of a sleeping child after one of those insanely busy days at work and a mountain of washing, dishes and catch-up emails to tackle at home.
Parents, does any of this sound familiar?
Welcome to the juggling act that can be parenting in the modern world.
But according to education experts on the Border, these day-to-day pressures could be hampering a child’s ability to learn and thrive at school.
From too much technology and too many choices about what they can eat through to the absence of a set bedtime, educators and the people helping the kids who fall through the cracks of the education system are seeing common issues with children who struggle at school.
And it starts long before they take a seat in the classroom.
Rhonda McCormack has been a teacher for 45 years, retiring in December after 40 years as a much-loved fixture at St Patrick’s Primary School in Albury.
She says there could not be a better job in the world.
But Mrs McCormack says teaching is not what it used to be — there’s more paperwork and there’s a lot more parenting.
And while she doesn’t want to sound like “an old school marm”, the mother of five boys herself says a lack of structure and discipline at home is creating students who are less resilient and harder to teach.
“By discipline I mean things like a set meal, bath and bed routine,” she says.
“These days kids have so many choices — if they don’t like what there is to eat, they get something else.
“Children also tend to be built up to think they are brilliant at everything … they take criticism poorly and the word ‘no’ is often not in their vocabulary.
“These factors can make it hard to concentrate on a task and school can become very challenging.”
Mrs McCormack is not necessarily having a shot at parents; she says the challenges of modern society and high cost of living can make the parenting job a stressful and demanding one.
“Parents often work full-time and at the end of the day they can give in on things just for some peace and quiet,” she says.
“And children are experts at zoning in when you are at your most vulnerable. Before you know it, you’ve given them the last five ice-blocks out of the freezer.”
But she says at the end of the day parents have to decide which job is more important because “eventually you will make a rod for your own back”.

“It didn’t look that good anyway.”