Ugh...dealing with the pain of abuse...

Over the three years of teaching I've had to deal with two cases of parent/guardian abuse. It is, by far, the hardest thing I've ever dealt with as a teacher. It breaks my heart to see these little babies, really, come to school bruised and battered. My most recent case (which I can't really talk about yet due to legal issues) hit me out of the blue. I would never have suspected the guardians of abusing my student. As a teacher, you do all you can to protect these students who spend their day with you. You work hard to provide a loving, caring, SAFE environment for them and you hope and pray that they have that same SAFE environment at home. When you find out they don't, it shatters your faith in people and makes you realize that your job is infinitely more important than it was before you found out...because that safe place you provide at school, as it turns out, might be the ONLY safe place they have to go.

My poor little student...I hope he/she is safe this weekend.