For many years now, I have been coming before the Commissioners because my children have not been attending school regularly. I felt shame, frustration and anger walking into the office in front of my family and others. They knew that I was seeing the Commissioners because my children’s school attendance was not good. I also knew that I needed to get my children to school, but just didn’t know how I was going to get them there. I wondered what these Commissioners were going to do that I couldn’t do for myself, and how they could possibly help me.
Over the years, I have missed a lot of conferences, and only now can I see that I was missing out on a lot of help that could have been provided to me and my children. Just over a year ago, I had a conference with the Commissioners and, for some reason, my idea of why they were here changed. I could now see that they were not only here to ensure that the children were going to school, but they genuinely wanted to help me. This change in my thoughts helped me to engage with them and use their ability to help me.
My children had already missed a lot of school, and I was always protecting them and making excuses for them. With the help of the Commissioners, I started to understand that I needed to take control of my children and be the parent. The Commissioners asked me to complete a parenting program to help me get some new ways of tackling this school attendance problem with my children. I successfully completed the parenting program, which definitely helped me to take action. I stopped listening to my children’s excuses. The Commissioners then supported me to talk with the school in regard to the children’s school attendance. I now have both children back in school attending regularly and couldn’t be happier.
I now look at the Commissioners in a different light, and find that I can come to conference without the feeling of shame, frustration and anger. I am glad that they persisted with me and kept asking me to come to conference because, if they had lost faith in me, my children may still be sitting at home and not getting an education.
