I teach high school. Every year, I seem to get this recurring question from certain students. "Ms. Jasper, do you have a husband?" Or, "Ms. Jasper do you have children.?" One child wished me happy Mother's Day. Before I could answer back, she said "Oh Ms. Jasper I did not know, you didn't have children." Y'all yes she did. I have answered this question multiple times before. It is sometimes asked over and over again by the same children. I once thought this was an innocent inquiry. Most kids ask about their teacher's marital status. Now I am starting to believe, these children are trying to insult me.
Today, these football players who skipped my entire class, asked the same question. This little girl, I'd been having trouble with, laughed under her breath. I answered the question as usual. "No, I do not have a husband." I don't have kids, so I don't have a husband. No big deal right? Or at least I didn't think it was a big deal.
I teach in a Title I school. Anyone, who has ever worked in these situations will tell you at risk teens can be brutal. They're good a finding things that really bother you. However, this never bothered me, until they began to make an issue out of it.
Every time, I access the call log, to contact a parent, I rarely see any fathers listed on the log. So my question to them is, why are you so worried about me? If a father is listed, they either don't live with the child or, they are not active in the child's life.
The same little girl who thought it was so funny I didn't have a husband, didn't have a dad listed in her contacts. As a matter of fact, I had to ask her, "What is your mom's last name." She had a different last name from her mother. I often have to do this, because calling the mom by her child's last name can be insulting.
Every time these children ask me, "Are you married?" I want to reply "Is your mother married? If your mother is married, is she married to YOUR dad? Nine times out of ten the answer would be no.
Just a vent.
Today, these football players who skipped my entire class, asked the same question. This little girl, I'd been having trouble with, laughed under her breath. I answered the question as usual. "No, I do not have a husband." I don't have kids, so I don't have a husband. No big deal right? Or at least I didn't think it was a big deal.
I teach in a Title I school. Anyone, who has ever worked in these situations will tell you at risk teens can be brutal. They're good a finding things that really bother you. However, this never bothered me, until they began to make an issue out of it.
Every time, I access the call log, to contact a parent, I rarely see any fathers listed on the log. So my question to them is, why are you so worried about me? If a father is listed, they either don't live with the child or, they are not active in the child's life.
The same little girl who thought it was so funny I didn't have a husband, didn't have a dad listed in her contacts. As a matter of fact, I had to ask her, "What is your mom's last name." She had a different last name from her mother. I often have to do this, because calling the mom by her child's last name can be insulting.
Every time these children ask me, "Are you married?" I want to reply "Is your mother married? If your mother is married, is she married to YOUR dad? Nine times out of ten the answer would be no.
Just a vent.
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