As I was walking home from a friends house, two little girls from across the street see me walking with my dog. They come running down their porch with popsicles in their hands (mind you it's about 10pm) yelling "I wanna pet your dog!" Suka was running around, doing his dog thing as these girls run up to me (not even knowing who I was) and tell me they want to pet my dog. Suka comes running up and starts smelling the girls over. They giggle and what not then one of the girls asks me to open her popsicle treat. I tell the girl to go ask her mom to open the treat but she says "my mom is drinking." "Oh, okay then, I'll open it." Then, I ask the girls "who is supposed to be watching you?" "My grandma." The girls start telling me that one of them doesn't live her, she's just visiting and they're just playing outside. After one of the girl finishes her popsicle treat, she throws the plastic on the ground and laughs as Suka goes up and investigates the sticky stuff. I told her to not be a litter bug and pick up her trash. She laughs and does what I tell her. Next, I tell the girls that it's my bed time and that I have to go home. I make sure to remind the girls not to play in the road and to go back inside. They giggle and walk back to the house.
I just kept thinking, "jeesh." I know it's summer, but 5 year olds outside at 10pm... by themselves???? I had an impulse to call social services (wouldn't be the first time I had to make a report). That is one of my responsibilities as a teacher- to report abuse. We hear and see everything at school: we missed you yesterday, where were you?- mom was drunk, and wouldn't let me go; he has a doctor's appointment at 12:00pm so we'll just keep him home all day; sorry, we slept in too late (call at 1:00pm), can you excuse her?; he stayed up too late so I let him sleep in...etc.
There are so many issues for these kids to deal with. And sometimes I have a hard time listening to what problems/concerns/issues parents share with me. I have had parents concerned about instructional time their child is/is not getting, and I'm concerned about my students coming to school without breakfast or without a coat, or giving my students a special good morning greeting to start their day off right. One grandparent told me of her concern with her granddaughter's hat. Someone was putting it on her backwards. And, I'm concerned about a student who has been wearing the same shirt with blood on it for 4 days in a row. Parents want their child pushed in certain subjects, and I'm concerned they don't know how to tie their shoes or zip up their coat.
When I am faced with an issue like safety/shelter/food/clothing/love that a child is not receiving, I kind of feel that all of those other issues seem so small in comparison. First of all, if a child is lacking in the previous mentioned, how much are they really going to learn when they come to school? They might learn that school will feed them breakfast and lunch, give them clothes, clean their head of lice, teachers will give praise and hugs, etc. Some stuff just matters more to me sometimes.
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