I'm Drawing The Line. Period.

Part of being a teacher is relating to my students, and I think that I do that pretty well. I love to see my students "get it" and succeed. I love to have little insignificant inside jokes with my students and joke around with them a little. I love to listen to the stories from my little ones, who tell me many wonderful things about the wonderful people in their lives. But not everyone has a wonderful life. And some students have a rough home life. As much as I cringe inside when I hear the stories of what's going on at home, I try that much harder to counter-act the negative part in their lives. I know that I can never make up for what can only be called a crappy home environment, but I like to try. That being said, let me introduce "Sara." 

Sara is a person whom nobody likes. She is crass. She is grumpy. She doesn't follow the rules. She does things to bother other people - on purpose. She's the one who makes the other kids say, "Gosh, Sara," in their most annoyed voice. Well, leave it to me to develop a soft spot for Sara. One day during class, I asked for a volunteer to come up and help me demonstrate a hand game to go with a new chant I had just taught. I picked Sara, and ever since, I've been her girl. If I see her in the halls, she runs up to me for a hug and says, "Mrs. Rustand! Hi!" (And YES, she says my name correctly!) If I see her after school or on the playground, she runs up to me and shares one of her many stories. I secretly love to see the smile on her face instead of the perma-frown that's usually there!

Today after school, I ran into Sara and she greeted me with the usual greeting and thigh squeeze, only this time was different. After the thigh squeeze, she looked up at me and puckered her lips. I froze. Sara had taken things to a new level and was expecting me to give her a kiss. On the lips. Is she serious?!  

Not wanting to disappoint my sweet little Sara, I leaned over and... air kissed her forehead. Did you really think I was going to actually kiss her? My lips got close enough to her forehead so I could smell her unclean hair, and she seemed to be ok with the air kiss. She air kissed me back and went on her merry way. I narrowly escaped an unexpected situation. 

I've never been kissed by a student before, and I intend to keep it that way. I mean, really. There are boundaries. I draw the line. No kissing. Period. I will give out hugs, pats on the back, high fives, fist bumps, and shoulder squeezes, BUT NOT KISSES. Am I being unrealistic?! Do I need to put it in the school newsletter or something?! 

I'll just chalk it up to another day at school with the kids.