When the daylight has faded

Helicopters and bulldozers (#experience)

Mrs Henderson, in her mid-50s and with half a lifetime of now apparently obsolete experience under her belt, sinks into the hard, brown chair behind her desk and drops her head into her shaking hands.

Parents' nights had always been exhausting. Mrs Henderson remembers the sheer number of parents that used to flock to her classroom every term, the myriad of fruitful, if sometimes tough, conversations about teacher-parent cooperation designed to bring out the very best in every individual student. The sense of satisfaction at every success story.

When had the school community world turned upside down? Mrs Henderson has no idea. The helicopter mothers and bulldozer fathers are insidious types of people, creeping their way into the PAs of the world largely unnoticed until they have taken over.

A deep sigh escapes Mrs Henderson's lips as she struggles to remember the reason why little Johnny's father wants to sue her. Johnny's attendance is spotty at best. When he does turn up, he captivates the teachers and the class with his outstanding personality, his distinctive manner of speech and his amazing analytical skills. Just this morning for example, he responded to Mrs Henderson's gentle inquiry as to why he hadn't done his homework in his usual sophisticated style.

"Not doing no shitty homework. Your lessons are rubbish, and I don't need no poxy school degree to become rich and famous."

In response to Mrs Henderson's question how he was going to achieve success without any education, he had displayed his unique analytical skills by pointing out that karma would bring Lamborghinis and chicks – despite the fact that he had no idea what karma was.

Johnny's father was furious – with Mrs Henderson, not his son. After all, it was the teacher who had had the nerve to demand the boy's homework in front of the whole class. Now Johnny suffers from anxiety and panic attacks and will never be the same again.

"It'll be up to the courts now!" he had shouted, letting another equally infuriated parent into Mrs Henderson's classroom.

"Mrs Henderson, I am absolutely speechless. First, you tell my Cindy to stop putting make-up on during lessons, then you take away her phone for the lesson, just because she wanted to answer some of her many messages. Why are you always picking on her? I have half a mind to sue, I tell you!"

There's a sudden knock on the door, and Mr Bower's face appears.

"How many lawsuits have you been threatened with today?" her colleague asks.

"About three, I think. At least Pat's parents are only going to the press. Reason: I had the audacity to schedule a test on the very day of Pat's birthday. They feel an official trial for this transgression on my side would be taking it a little too far. A little public lynching would be sufficient this time, they declared. Lucky me. And you?"

"Oh, by just about everybody. I marked a result as wrong, when I should have praised the students' motivation instead."