It's that time of year. The time where my class begins to ask questions about my family. Every year questions are asked. Every year it gets easier to answer them, but it still stings.
Class: Do you have any children?
Me: Nope, I have you guys. That is enough.
Class: Why don't you have any children?
Me: We are waiting for God to give them to us. (Yes I used God in a public school but seriously, parents should teach their children not to ask such questions.)
Class: I know how to make children. You only need to plant a seed. Have you planted the seed?
Me: Okay enough of this!
Class: Maybe one day you will come to school with a big belly. Maybe we will see you next year with a HUGE belly.
Me: Speechless, holding back the tears. Hoping they are little prophets and can tell the future.
Class: My mom has 4 kids. She says it is too many. I know someone who has 6 kids......
Me: Seriously guys, we need to move on. Can someone tell me what are our life needs again?
SHOOT ME IN THE FOOT! I am sure more questions will come since there are 5 pregnant women at my school. I am sure more will show up later on during the year. I am also positive a kid will say, "Why does so and so have a big belly and you don't?"
I love kids but sometimes their words really hurt.
Monday, October 01, 2007
Out of the Mouths of Second Graders
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18 comments:
Well that sucks. I guess I should be grateful my students can't talk.
OUCH ...I am sorry..I feel the sting from those questions all the way over here
Yeah the sting of those questions is too much.
I remember when all the ladies in my circle of friends got pregnant (& we'd been trying before ALL of them)... a little 6 yr old asking, "Don't you WANT any kids?" as if I must not like kids as much as these other ladies.
I'm sorry!
Whoever came up with the whole "sticks & stones" cliché was a moron.
Oh boy do I remember these questions from kids well! And yes, it sure does sting! I found that I didn't get nearly as many questions from 5th graders as 2nd, so that was a good thing.
I am so with Tracey -- words wound because they leave a lasting memory. Sorry you had to experience that painful dialogue.
Ughhh. I'd need a bottle in my desk drawer! I'm so sorry.
When I came to your blog, the song playing was "Over the Rainbow." Lovin' your music!
Im so sorry=( You are a better woman than I--Im pretty sure I'd be in the principals office by now...
I think it's time to get out The Ruler. For The Knuckles.
(Just kidding. Kind of.)
Wow. I don't know if I could have dealt with that. Kids really know how to go for the jugular.
"Have you planted the seed?"
Yeek. That's alternatly horrifying and hilarious. If only it were so easy.
Hmmm...I can't remember my class ever asking the teachers these kind of personal questions.
It really must hurt to hear these kind of remarks, clearly innocently made, but still so painful. Is there any way you could just tell the kids nicely that you don't want to talk about your personal life -- or are they too young to understand?
second graders... very cute and at the same time incredibly inappropriate. I'm sorry. My seventh graders aren't much better, but at least I don't have to be quite so nice about it with them. I can just tell them to mind their own business.
That's when you say something that leaves all their mouths hanging and stops the questions once and for all...
Mwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
(that was supposed to be an evil laugh)
The year of my miscarriage, I taught 4th grade and a bunch of the girls figured out I was pregnant... and then I had to figure out how to tell them when I wasn't anymore.
Yeah, I can relate. There was nothing worse than having to tell 21 kindergartners that I gave birth to twins that didn't make it. And when I went back to work, all of my former students would come and visit and ask how the babies were. It just sucked.
Bravo for keeping it together.
Kids do say the damndest things.
Wow! Sunny, I can't even imagine how tought it must have been to hear this conversation. You are absolutely right! Kids are great but they sure don't know much about when it's appropriate to say something and they don't realize how much their words hurt sometimes.
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