Teachers change lives. However, after watching her father, a dedicated educator, grade papers from his hospital bed prior to his passing away, a grieving daughter has shared a plea to other families to help their loved ones of the same profession set boundaries.
Doctors came and went, she said, running tests and asking her father what to do in case of the event his heart stops beating. “He'd answer their questions and resume with grades,” she said.
Venegas is a mom of two who had last spent time with her father at his home three days prior to his death. Watching him work, she later wished she had “closed his laptop” so that the pair could enjoy one another’s company.
Navarro passed away in hospital of non-COVID-related sickness.
Venegas also took the opportunity to plead with kindness to the students, spouses, and children of educators to “help them set boundaries” and further requests them with kindness to not allow them to work once they’re home.
Additionally, in an attempt to help teachers normalize their working hours and manage their time efficiently, she advised, “You are replaceable at work. You are NOT replaceable at home,” while further adding not to normalize them staying up late.
Venegas signed off by writing she misses and loves her dad very much.
Unsurprisingly, the grieving daughter’s post resonated with netizens and has managed to amass more than 186,000 reactions. Many social media users took to the comments section to offer their condolences for her loss, whilst some other teachers shared their own experiences of working long hours.
“I had to stop working as I was impacting my health working long hours and even on Saturdays,” wrote one. “I work with 381 students on a weekly basis and I was slowly killing myself and the relationship with my family. We can be replaced but are irreplaceable to our families.”
