What Was I Thinking?

So...to review for our upcoming poetry test, something possessed me to play Jeopardy with my kids. WHY?!?!?!?!?!? If I ever again seem like I think that would be a good idea, SOMEONE STOP ME! I had some visitors in from another school during my biggest and loudest class, and they probably think I'm the worst teacher on the planet. However...I do think my kids actually got something out of the review. More than they would have from just copying definitions, at least. They're good kids and I love every one of them to pieces, but sometimes they make me want to scream! Grr.

One of my former students came in today to see me, in tears because he has got SO much going on right now--more than any teenager should have to worry about. It's so easy to dismiss their concerns as frivolous, but not all of them are. Some of these kids have to grow up so fast, and it breaks my heart that they can't enjoy just being kids. Some of them are trying to grow up too fast, and that breaks my heart too, because they have no idea what they're missing--and one day they will realize it. One of my students was talking the other day about how he has one tattoo but wants another one. A tattoo? At 15? Seriously? What 15-year-old needs a tattoo? I asked him what his parents thought and he told me that his dad didn't like it, but the kid had the money and wanted it so his parents signed the waiver. What on earth is wrong with people? Your 15-year-old son wanted it and had the money, so that's a good reason? How about just saying NO?

I worry a lot that I'm too judgmental of other parents. It's easy to look at them and think that I would never let MY child do that. I've realized that having a child of my own puts a new light on EVERYTHING; every time I see a girl walking through the hallway I think, Would I want my daughter wearing that? (The answer is usually NO!!!!) When I hear my students talk, I wonder if their parents know half of what goes on with them. I wonder if I'm being way too judgmental, and if I will be in the same boat when Charlotte is a teenager. I hope not.

OK enough of that. It is now...8 p.m. and I am so tired that I can't focus. Going to crash on the couch so I can pretend that I'm spending time with the hubs.