In this year alone, had to battle against a virus that threatens to kill us, contend with a recession that has hit our economy in a way we’ve never had to live through before, and deal with child care arrangements falling through for, well, an indefinite amount of time. As parents, we just want to make it through this and ensure our kids don’t lose out on too much because of it. One profession has been struggling more than most – our kids’ teachers. Their job has never been easy, but now, it’s more stressful trying to adapt to e-learning or staying safe in the classroom. A Reddit thread has gone viral in the Ask Reddit community, and the teachers are giving us an inside look at their profession.
On Oct. 15, 2020, a question was posed that asked the teachers in the community to share a time when they “cried due to a student(s) actions.” Teachers flooded the comments to share their moment, and it’s clear what an impact they’ve had on the kids they’ve taught and some of the situations they’ve found themselves in.
“I made my kindergarten teacher cry when we were supposed to draw a picture of our moms for Mother’s Day cards,” a former student shared. They continued, “but my moms not alive so I drew the teacher because I had to draw something.”
For another teacher, they had three kids who made them cry in their teaching career. The teacher said that they were a brand new ESL teacher and had tried to help a young student calm down during a meltdown. “I had to help a 7-year-old calm down from a meltdown while he tried to hurl the biggest rocks and branches he could at me,” they shared, adding, “one of the branches hit the door behind me and made a huge dent on it. During that same class period two other kids had meltdowns as well, one of them bit me and kicked me while I restrained him as carefully as I could because he was trying to throw desks at his peers (and honestly the synced breathing works), the other girl just. ran away from the room screaming bloody murder. I could do nothing at that point.” Their day got worse from there when the principal called to say that another kid had escaped their class. “After that, I curled up on a toilet and cried my eyes out before going home.”
Not all the stories are stressful. Sometimes teachers cry because their student share how they’ve touched their word. “Just two days ago I had a 12th grade student write me a note and tell me she appreciated my concern for her,” another teacher wrote. “I told her the next day how special she made me feel and I cried in front of her. I have the best job in the world.”
Reading through the other comments, it’s a mix of all types of emotions that made the teachers cry. Some were dealing with helping young kids who were managing suicidal ideation, others went out of their way to help a stressed student and their help was noticed, they’ve been invited to birthday parties. There were others who shared they cried after being bullied and taunted by students, the stress and struggle of kids not listening, and the spectrum of all the topics that come up in the classroom.
Teachers are amazing, parents realize this now more than ever since the pandemic, and we’re raising a glass to you all.
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This article was originally published on Oct. 16, 2020
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