-> From what I've observed, my friends don't exercise consistent
-> discipline & give in when they get tired.
This is the problem. Kids are not stupid. If they know that their
parents "give in" when they are tired, then they will step up their
insistent nagging and pleas until Mommy or Daddy gives in.
-> I wasn't in school THAT long ago (graduated high school in 80,) but
-> we would never have asked teachers if they were pregnant, living with
-> someone, a virgin, had used/or currently using drugs, what they were
-> earning, or some of the other truly dreadful things my students want
-> to know.
Oh, I know. The one thing that really bugs me, is that if I'm out from
school for a day and then return, the students drill me about where I
was and why I was out. I've usually told them that that is not
appropriate, and that they could more appropriately say something like,
"How are you feeling?" or something like that.
I have had students ask me some of those other, more intimate questions
as well.
I can understand to a certain extent, students wanting to know if a
teacher was pregnant or not, since that means they may be getting a
substitute some months down the line, and that affects them directly.
This past school year we had a new teacher, Mrs. M, who started out the
school year with us in the math department. She was a new teacher, and
didn't have her own classroom. She had to teach in other teacher's rooms
during their prep periods, roving from room to room (as is usual at our
school for new teachers) and at block 5 she was in my classroom.
This teacher had two young children and was now going to return to
teaching. (I'm not sure if her youngest was even 1 year old yet.) She
wasn't exactly trim, but some people take a while to get their figure
back (if ever).
A month or so into the school year, some of the students in her class
(Ann and Irazmi) whom I had taught the previous year came to _me_ and
asked _Me_ if Mrs. M was pregnant. Well, of course I told them "not as
far as I know". I'm not sure if they said so specifically, but somehow
the allusion to her clothing being loose, and possibly "maternity-like"
came up, and I said that her youngest child wasn't that old and maybe
she hadn't gotten her figure back yet, etc...
About a week later I found out from our Dept. Head that she was
pregnant. She had been _really_ tired, and been dragging herself around
the school and complaining that she had no time or energy for preparing
for class or correcting papers (been there, done that...this is a very
common symptom of early pregnancy), so I let her know that I _now_
understood why she was so tired. I told her what the students had asked
me only a few days before, and asked if she was trying to keep it under
wraps. She decided to announce it to the class the next day. By the next
week she was gone and we had a new teacher to take her place (her
husband wouldn't "let" her work, is what I was told).
On a related note, at about the same time, my Dept. Head came to me
(privately) and said "I have to ask you something..."
He wanted to know if _I_ was pregnant (I'd been wearing a lot of loose,
smock-like dressed, but I hadn't put on any weight!) and he said that
someone else in the department had asked him and (how convenient) he
couldn't remember who it was. That kind of bugged me. Like I wouldn't
tell my employer so that they would have enough time to find a
replacement for me?
Sheila
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