Soap Box

 Yesterday was a very challanging day. It was open house, where your classroom is turned into a sardine can with half your parents there, I got some, hmm how to say it, undesirable feedback, had a fire drill mid-nap and lastly I got bit, scratched, pinched and called names by a nugget. And it was only Wednesday, excuse me? 

 You know this is only my second year teaching, I am still learning so many things. But one this is certain, I love my nuggets. Every last one of them, I might not love the choices they make or they way they do somethings but I love them. Loving a nugget does not mean giving into their every request. I make an effort EVERYDAY to make EACH child feel important, I say "I love you" more times than I can count, I hug 400 times while they leave snot on my shirt, I put on band aids on 12 of the tiniest paper cuts that ever existed. But I simply can't do it all. Every shoe won't get tied, someone's sore toe won't get tended to and every bruise won't get a kiss. I don't have enough time in the day, I still have to go to PLC's and call back a parent, document on this, and turn in that..not to mention teach! 

 By no means am I asking for a pity party, I'm just asking that you give your teachers a break. Think of the effort and attention it takes to tend to your children, and multiply it by 20 or so. I'm not a parent, nor do I wish to be right now, because I have 24 kids already. And I give them everything I have 5 days a week. I'm amazed by the teachers that do have families of their owns, and by parents in general, it's an unimaginable task in my mind. 

 I chose this profession for the nuggets. They are who I am focused on, and they are the ones who I go to work for. The rest of my job (meetings, lesson plans, documentation, conferences, ect) is a requirement, but the kids are the reason. The day the reason changes is the day I won't be a teacher anymore.