Adventures in Teaching (Babysitting?!?)

Woo. What a day! Yesterday was the day of no focus... today was the day where all I could do was focus. I subbed for Pre-K today, but this wasn't an ordinary Pre-K class, it was ECCD Pre-K, which is a fancy way of saying a special ed classroom for the little ones.

Which makes you wonder, how does a child, prior to kindergarten get put in to special education? Well, in this case, there were three kids that were foster children, and it was clear that they had been neglected at some point in their four years, because they were either incredibly angry, or incredibly clingy, or both. There was an autistic boy, and a five year old that could literally only say about two things "Ma" and "No", and the rest was complete gibberish... a year old child could string together more words. There were a few hyperactive children (which also made me wonder if these children truly had hyperactivity disorders or were they too, neglected). Then of course there were a few children that seemed very capable and well behaved, and I just couldn't understand how it was that they had been placed in the room.

There were two parapros in the room, which would seem like it would make for a relatively easy day as there were only twelve children... but no. Three kids, the autistic child, a six year old, and a five year old, were still wearing diapers. Yes, I changed a five year old's diaper today. Think changing the diaper of a squirming infant is hard? Try changing the diaper of a figidity five year old autistic child who has pooped all over himself. Although, I have to say that my heart really went out to this child. It was clear that he probably lived in the nearby housing projects, and you could tell that he was very smart. It was just making me sad that this poor boy could probably do very well in life if the correct attention was paid to him, but if he was stuck in the Flint schools this will probably never happen for him.

And of course there was the boy who repeatedly kicked me and the parapros through the day... and another boy who began acting out in an odd way... let's just say it was sexual in nature and that's not something you normally see in a five year old... so one of the parapros took him to the office and later told me that the principal was making a call to social services.

I was on my toes for the entire day. There was the boy who spoke only in gibberish who was throwing the teacher's CDs around... another kid somehow found a bottle of glue (at this point myself and the parapros had put everything in arm's reach away) and poured it all over the floor, and one kid refused to come out from under a table.

On the one hand, I feel like I don't get paid enough to deal with this kind of stuff... but that's the selfish side of me. The other part of me just wants to sit and cry... not for my own exhaustion, but for these kids. While some kids can have a perfectly happy, normal family life and be hyperactive, I feel certain that many of these kids were this way simply because no one cared for them. How can you do this to a child, and then be surprised at the many ways they act out?

I would love more than anything to be a parent one day in the future. And I know without a doubt that I would love and cherish my child, and do anything for them. To see so many people who seem to completely disregard their children just makes me sad.

These kids' problems make my woes of stress and worry seem small and silly in comparison.