Teacher Fears

I feel like teaching is an extremely stressful career. I have so many things to worry about every single day.

-Did I unknowingly leave someone out at recess/at the bathroom/etc.?

-Did all of my students get on the correct bus when going home?

-Did my students actually give me all of the very important notes that their parents sent in from home or am I going to let Johnny get on the wrong bus because he turned his mom's note into a paper airplane?

-Are the directions on the homework that I sent home clear or are parents going to send me angry emails because their child doesn't know what to do (even though we have been doing the EXACT same problems in class for a week)?

-Was it inappropriate when I said, "Stop running around like a chicken with your head cut off!"

-Was I too hard on a student when he started to cry after I discussed with him why it was not appropriate for him to run screaming down the hallway (so loudly that ALL of the other teachers shut their doors).

-Does that homemade birthday treat have peanuts in them even though I can't actually see or smell any peanuts, and is my allergic kid going to swell up like a blow-fish?

-What if one of the students that I would not let get an emotional icepack from the nurse was really injured? (Really though, if I sent down every kid that asked to go to the nurse, child services would be in here investigating. One asked to get an icepack today for a non bleeding paper-cut.)

These are just a few examples of the worries that are running through my mind every single second of every single day when I'm teaching. When you're a teacher you are responsible for LIVES--but not rational adult lives. Teachers are responsible for:

-Children who escape from the playground during recess and try to walk home because, "I missed my mommy."

-Children who try to put an entire hamburger in their mouths at once because, "I wanted to see if I could."

-Children who pull the fire alarm because, "I wanted to see what would happen."

-Children who get lost between the classroom and the lunch room and have emotional breakdowns in the hallway.


Teachers are also held responsible by parents--for everything. Kids tell there parents EVERYTHING. This means that every word that comes out of my mouth and every move I make must be appropriate, professional, and rationale.

If I would lose my patience (and my mind) just once and tell a kid to sit his ass down, I would be finding myself a new career. Do you know how many times a day I want to say, "Sit your ass down!"? or "Get away from me!" It's a lot. Let me assure you of that. But instead, I say, "Sweetie, I need for you to sit on your pockets, immediately. Thank you." and "I need you to be a patient waiter and give me two giant steps of personal space."

How terrifying is that my career is in the hands of seven year-olds who eat their boogers?

What about you?? What's the most stressful part of your job?

The Never-Ending Tattletales

When I was in college, I thought I wanted to teach preschoolers or primary children. However, the gods of teaching had other plans for me. Most of my teaching experience has been in the upper grades, 4th and 5th specifically, and I've loved it. At that age, kids are still cute and sweet but also independent. Plus most of them haven't started to smell yet. You also don't have to worry about them getting lost on the way from the bathroom to your classroom .. two doors down the hall (usually. There are always special cases.)

Now that I am in the younger grades, I find that there are both challenges and benefits to working with second and third graders. The benefits are that they usually have an extremely positive outlook on everything. They still have the exuberance that comes from being young and carefree. School is still fun and exciting for them.

However, the most annoying challenge, by far, is tattling.

"Sarah flicked me."

"Evan took my pencil."

"Julia wrote on my paper."

"Jake looked at me funny."

"Susie called me ugly."

"Liz said she didn't care that it's my dog's birthday today."

And on and on and on and on and on and on and on...ALL FREAKING DAY LONG! I just want say, "If you are not bleeding, going to throw up, or on fire, I don't want to hear it!"

But, of course, I never say that because I am afraid I would get an email from some kid's mom that said, "Trenton said that you..." Hmm. Wonder where they get it from?

Attention Shoppers

In addition to my semi permanent, full time teaching job, I work weekends at a huge retail store. I didn't quit, even after starting my full time teaching job because the people are nice, it appeals my OCD tendencies of folding and refolding clothes, and well the discount is ridiculous. I love me some shopping.

I also have met and helped a lot of really nice customers. One woman in particular seeks me and only me out when she needs help because, "I'm easy to deal with". No one has ever said this about me before, and I think she may be delusional, but I thought it was nice of her regardless.

As it is common in every job, there are a few coworkers that try to make my life miserable. I just want say, "Chill out, stop bossing me around, and realize that you are working retail. We're not saving lives here." These are the people that start having a meltdown when the dressing rooms are exploding with clothes and we're short staffed. Please. Spend a few days teaching seven year olds, then we'll talk stress.

The only thing that significantly ruffles my feathers is when a customer tries on a shitload of clothes, hangs nothing up, and leaves them scattered around the dressing room floor. Now, I get that this occasionally happens when you have one of those "NOTHING FITS" freak outs and run out the door to the McDonald's across the street for a large order of fries. Oh wait, that's just me?

You would be shocked to see how many adult women do this--at least half of all female customers. How can you do this and not be a little embarrassed of yourself. I get that it's not your job to put them away, and I certainly don't expect you to. I get paid the big bucks to do that. Ha. But really, who do you think you are that you can't hang them on the rack provided right outside the fitting room?

What about you? What's your biggest job related pet peeve??