this birthday I'll be 36. I don't mind getting older (no no, really I don't - something one of my wise friends said stuck in my head and I can never complain about it again
'I love getting older - because what else can I do about it?') But it is bittersweet, working in the job I do - every year I get a new influx of kids in, and you get attached to them and spend more time with them than their parents, and know their highs and lows, and mediate their battles, and celebrate their wobbly teeth, and teach them to tie their shoelaces and button their shirts and see them learning and growing taller and more articulate and confident - then they go into the next year and forget all about you, and you forget about them. You get a new lot in and the whole thing starts over again...
And I wonder if I'll be the single lady teacher forever, like teachers traditionally were, humble, broke and devoted... Most of the parents are my age (or younger, heavens!) And I look at them and wonder what it's like to be them, all partnered up and taking their kids for granted, as you do... It's not even that I'm sure I want kids - like a lot of my friends, (well the ones that haven't had them yet) I'm ambivalent about the whole thing. It's just that we don't have the luxury of ambivalence, because time's not on our side.
About teaching and crying
1 day ago
11 comments:
Don't underestimate your influence on these children. I can still remember all of my primary school teachers - some more than others of course.
Like you say, you spend more time with them than their parents - they will remember you and you will have made an impression on them and added something to their life.
yah - you are awsome and cool and that's what they need in order to prepare for the crazy world as adults. They need street smarts as well as brains and you're pretty hip.
Who cares if you're single teacher - you already have like a hundred children:)
Love BS x
I get older next week. Since cosmetic surgery, rejuvenation, the elixir of youth or becoming a time lord aren't feasible I am resigned to it. Besides, I'm still 21 on the inside :)
Ask any parent of a school-age child and they'll tell you that, compared to their child's teacher(s), they know NOTHING. Children really, seriously idolise their teacher, especially in the early years. Anxious is right, a good teacher will always make a lasting impression on a child. Yesterday, my 15 year-old wrote a lovely letter to her Primary 3 (Year 2?) teacher inviting her to a concert she's performing in next week.
What age group do you teach?
It's a vocation and boy, we can all remember the teachers for whom it was just a job, and barely that.
Thank goodness you're out there.
The parenting thing...it's a muddle. I've learned that it is best not to regret if it doesn't happen.
sounds like they're lucky to have a teacher like you, but i know what you mean about the time thing. it's one of the cruddiest things about being a women, imho. happy bday
Lie about your age. I'm 43...
Hippy Happy Birthday!
Sounds like somebody needs beer and strippers.
Happy bidet.
Thanks, Anx. (I wouldn't want anyone to get the wrong idea that I'm some kind of saintly teacher - sometimes I'm a horrible shouty teacher.)
Cheers, Sarah - they're only on temporary loan though.
Llewtrah, right - it is strange sometimes when people mistake you for a grownup...
Ah, Marsha, that's sweet. At the moment I teach Year 1 (5 & 6 year olds) though they like to swap us around.
Arabella, you're right, though I confess it's not my vocation. I know you're right about no regrets as well.
Rivergirlie, I'm telling myself that there will be a scientific breakthrough before too long - maybe they'll enable men to have babies, like seahorses do, won't that be interesting?
Billy, you don't look a day over 40. Can't lie to the old body-clock though...
Cheers, Rehan.
LC - yes, beer, beer and strippers! How come the brides get to have all the fun? It's not my birthday yet, I just like to torture myself.
So, err, happy birthday?
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