Gggrrrrr

Well, got my lazy self up this morning and did a 3.25 mile run before work. It was my first morning run in two weeks, and I could certainly feel that in my tempo and pace. I just couldn't get into a good rhythm. I started 20 minutes after waking up, so I think maybe I didn't allow myself enough time to actually come alive before hitting the pavement. Erin and I are talking about doing a longer run Sunday morning. We'll see how that goes.

Why is it we so easily can block out hundreds of positive comments, but hearing one negative one throws us all out of whack? I'm sitting here stewing over one parent from my kids' cybercamps complaining about me to Gayle. Apparently her kid didn't like me too much, so she went home and whined to her mother, who comes back and asks Gayle why I am teaching a kids camp if I don't like kids. SAY WHAT?? First of all, I like kids just fine, otherwise I wouldn't have been offering these Cybercamps the past THREE YEARS. I would've told my boss after the first summer to just forget it, this stinks, give me back my adult classes. Second of all, this is a classroom. Yes, it's a free service to the military families, but no, that doesn't mean I'm going to let the kids run around with no structure whatsoever. They're here to learn and do projects on the computer. I expect them to behave politely and with rules, just like they have in school. If that makes me the mean, bad teacher, well then I guess I am! The problem is that so many parents these days let their kids run around without rules and let them back talk, curse, and just be overall rude to their teachers and other adults, then they're suprised when someone corrects their kid on their behavior.

It just makes me so annoyed because I've worked so hard every single school break to make sure the kids have a fun and enjoyable time while learning something cool too. Do I get irritated with some of them sometimes, sure, show me a teacher that doesn't! I have so much respect to teachers who do this every single day, all day long, without ever a thanks or good job. It truly is a thankless job! What I have to remember is that I've had many of the same kids come back year after year, and they wouldn't do that if they didn't enjoy the classes.

I don't know why I let one negative comment bother me so much. I guess it's because this parent didn't come to me and ask me about the situation, but just went and blabbed to Gayle, and furthermore, I don't even know what situation it was or who the kid was!

Oh well. I can't stress over what I can't change. But it can still annoy me!