Rants in my Pants

I've had a draining week, for a number of reasons. The first being that I'm pregnant. Not that I can blame being drained on the pregnancy, but I'm sure it's part of it. If I wasn't pregnant I probably wouldn't be as tired or as annoyed at students (those who honestly merit annoyance), and feel like I want to start my mat leave three months early. My students (but really there is only a handful of them) have been driving me crazy. I consider myself a pretty patient and good-natured teacher most, if not all, of the time. In my short career so far, I haven't had to deal with extreme behavioral or disciplinary issues because I usually find a way to build a good rapport with students - even the 'bad' ones - but having to put up with whiny twelve-year olds who do one or all of the following (sometimes at the same time), can make a person mad (as in the emotion and the mental state): act like they are two-years-old, complain when they can't find their pencil, whine (yes, just whine), cut paper, take apart pens and blow on the open hole, constantly exhibit eccentric behavior like clicking the roof of their mouths, 'explode' their binders, ask non-sensical, irrelevant questions or hypothetical question after hypothetical question, throw a pen across the room while I'm reading aloud to the class. These are some of the things I've had to deal with this week alone.

I hate kicking students out of my room and I try to avoid it as much as possible; but lately, it's becoming an every day routine. Is it my heightened impatience-as-a-result-of-pregnancy with those brats? Or have I actually reached my breaking point and age-limit I can and will teach?

I think it's both. I've often said seventh grade is the youngest I'll teach. Maybe it's a bit too young for me. Oh, how I miss the long forgotten maturity of teenagers!

The second reason why I've had a draining week so far is because I haven't been spending much needed time with the Lord. My days have been busy and I've opted to sleep early, watch TV, or *ahem* blog rather than find rest in solitude, prayer, and scripture. I know it and I know that is a huge factor in my lack of patience, lack of energy, and lack of motivation right now. I can't blame it all on being pregnant.

Thankfully, I've taken the day off tomorrow to attend to medical appointments and such. The ironic thing is, I hate taking days off (however entitled I am and even when I'm sick) because I worry about my kids not getting anything done with a substitute. How crazy am I?