Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Piling On

The guidance counselor got a semi-anonymous call from someone who is a friend of Fake Gangsta's mom. This woman reports that FG's mom's drinking has been out of control. She's been leaving FG home alone with his 2 year old sister for hours at a time, has imposed no curfew so FG is out at all hours of the night, the house is a disgusting mess and they frequently fight loudly. She wanted to let us know and she planned on calling Child Services (as would another friend of FG's mom). Receiving this information made it necessary for the guidance counselor to call Child Services. So I expect this to be a tough week for FG.

You can only hope that state involvement would force his mom to step up a little and really do some parenting. But I'm not holding my breath.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Why is my job necessary?

Why is a job like mine necessary?
Let's Ride Bikes' mom was a drug addict who frequently left him alone as a child until he was taken away from her.
Math Major's father seems to be incapable of saying a kind word.
Virgil fled an his home country and became a refuge in a boarding country until eventually coming here.
Headache's father is in jail for abusing him and his brother.
Fake Gangsta's mother keeps him up all night watching TV & then let's him wander around town at night by himself - when he's not babysitting his two year old sister.
Trains! has a disappearing/reappearing father and step father.
43%'s mom is unstable and was abused by his father - which he witnessed.
The Magician's mother seems to have 1 method for communicating with him: yelling.
School Much?'s mom had a restraining order against his father - with whom he now lives.

That's just for starters. With most of my students, the history is much longer. I'm sure there's an organic cause for their disabilities but there's no doubt it has been exacerbated by their environments.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Joke, Not Funny

Fake Gangsta has been been doing great lately. The other day he was working on an assignment that I thought was going to be too difficult for him but, in fact, he completed it without any help triggering the following dialog :

Me: I'm going to lose my job if this keeps up.
Fake Gangsta, with worry in his voice: Why?
Me: Because it seems you don't need my help anymore and my job is to help you.
FG: [Looks at me worriedly.]
Me, hurriedly: Just kidding. I was trying to say you're doing awesome.
FG: Oh.