Dear diary

Since (unfortunately) the electronic diary has existed, we parents most of the time know the result of the math test before our children do. After several years of using the electronic register, I can honestly say that this is not good. First of all, because it is a huge generator of anxiety for both us and them. Then, maybe it doesn't happen, but in some way it also takes away the joy of being able to say: today I got an 8 in grammar or the embarrassment of how to communicate a nice 4 in Latin. Maybe I go against the category but, in my opinion, with the electronic diary the parent knows too much! What homework will he have tomorrow, the day after tomorrow and much more... Questions that, again in my opinion, should concern only the responsibility of the children.

Unfortunately, knowing everything about the child at school puts the parent in an uncomfortable position that not everyone knows how to handle in the same way. What do I do? Follow up on him? Stress him? Remind him? Offer to help him? As a son, I personally didn’t get all this attention and I have to say that I had to get by, even if sometimes very badly. Regardless of the results, it was useful for me to grow. I know that I won’t find many who agree with me, but our children no longer have the possibility of making mistakes. The idea of ​​being able to “cut, skip, skip school” has been eliminated by technology, but without wanting to make philosophical treatises – even if as a father on the one hand it makes me more serene – I’m not sure that it’s the right path. I may be wrong, but if I look at my life the other way around I prefer to have made a lot of mistakes: I recognize that I grew up only in the act of getting up again. Let’s not risk living too much by following the navigator, asking ourselves: “But what road is it making me take?”. My grandfather always said to me: “Do you know how I met grandma? Because I had taken the wrong road”.


Andrea Gotico
NP October 2024