Man asks how to help his teacher wife, who is going crazy

It is healthy to take an interest in the lives of those you are closest to. Sometimes this interest can lead to concern, and that is normal. But feeling immediately worried about what someone is going through is a warning sign, both for you and for him or her.

One man found himself in that position after watching his wife, a teacher, work incredibly hard while “going crazy.” Unsurprisingly, she is not the only teacher in this situation.

A concerned husband just wanted to get some help for his struggling teacher wife.

The “Teachers” community on Reddit is usually reserved for the teachers themselves, but the husband of one of them ended up there to ask a question so he could help his wife, who is a teacher herself.

teacher feels overwhelmed with head in her hands Prostock studio | Canva Pro

“I’m reaching out to see if anyone has any ideas on how we can handle this situation,” he began.

“My wife is one primary school teacherand like most teachers, she is absolutely losing her mind with this new generation,” he said. “The kids just don’t listen, they don’t concentrate, they’re quite disrespectful.”

He continued: “Her school administration tends to ask a lot of the teachers – the teacher has to take care of the children, deal with the parents and organize all kinds of extracurricular activities at the same time.”

Despite the problems with student behavior and the demands of the administration, his wife is reluctant to try a new job.

“She has studied endlessly and is fully certified as an elementary school teacher,” he explained. “And now that we’ve only been in business for a few years, she really doesn’t like it.”

“We had suggested that she tutor, but she didn’t like working evenings and weekends instead of normal hours,” he said.

“Has anyone else had this problem?” he asked. “I know many teachers are frustrated with their jobs. Many teachers are dropping out en masse. She doesn’t want to give up because this is her only occupation.”

“What have other level-headed individuals done in this situation?” he wondered.

Other teachers offered all the encouragement and advice they could.

This is obviously a very difficult situation for everyone involved. And of course it’s not just for this one family. Many other teachers are feeling the same tension right now.

“It’s time to get out,” one person commented. “After 34 years I’m going to drive a truck. I will make more money and enjoy life more.”

“Same boat,” another confirmed. “I keep waiting for things to get better, but they just don’t. The kids are super uncommitted, they don’t practice and they want everything to be given to them without any effort on their part. They don’t even say thank you and argue in no time.”

Another teacher offered an interesting and important perspective when they asked, “How long has she been teaching? This is going to make a big difference because the first three to five years can be overwhelming and you learn a lot and sometimes things change in an instant.”

It’s good for this couple to keep this in mind because it sounded like the man’s wife hadn’t been teaching very long. Maybe if she continued doing it longer, she would get used to it more.

It is true that teachers are quitting in large numbers.

Just like this husband and these commenters said: many teachers are leaving the profession. In reality, This is reported by Schools That Lead that “8% of teachers quit each year, and younger teachers are most likely to quit.”

Furthermore, “90% of teachers claim it is a ‘serious’ problem, and 67% claim it is ‘very serious’.”

As more and more teachers leave the profession, it will likely lead to an education crisis with a teacher shortage. This will prove detrimental to the very students they claim are pushing them out of the occupation.

Before that happens, some intervention must be made to ensure that the state of education remains intact.

Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango covering entertainment, news and human interest topics.