Why teaching is hard... but being a kid is harder

Story #1: A couple weeks ago, a student of mine came to school after a long weekend and had done NONE of her homework. I was more than a little irritated and wanted to know the reason why. She told me it was a "long story." I told her a still wanted to hear it. She told me it was a "really long story." I told her I was listening. And so she related how her family had confronted her mother about her excessive drinking the Friday night before, and my student found out that her mom was going to be charged with stealing narcotics from the nursing home she worked at and could possibly face jail time. I was absolutely floored, having known - and liked - this family for years. Since then, my student has related that she may be going to live with an aunt and uncle in another town until her mother can get herself straightened out, how her mother would drive her around town while under the influence, and how my student was sometimes put into the role of watchdog with her mother to keep unsavory friends from having contact. This student is only 12 years old.

Story #2: A ten-year-old student has had a horrible past two weeks. Although he's a bright kid, he's often off-task, disorganized, and even defiant in the classroom. The past two weeks have been particularly bad, culminating with an in-school suspension for doing some play "stabbing" with a pencil with another student. Turns out this student, who lives with his mom and her boyfriend, overheard his mom, who is in the National Guard, talking about how she might be deployed to Iraq. My student doesn't know who he will live with if this happens - his dad lives in Virginia. As he told his teacher, he just doesn't care about school anymore.

Life just should NOT be this hard for kids who haven't even reached their teenage years.