As a middle school teacher, I can assure you never once did a student pucker up for a kiss...but in the elementary this has happened a few times already this year. The first time the student popped up beside me (I was sitting so we were about face to face) and had his lips ready for a big smoosh. I just played it off like, "Oh, you silly, you need to have a seat". Today a student kissed my arm. I thought it was cute, but if he does it again I'll have to remind him to save his kisses for home. Students are constantly wanting hugs as well (which I am accustomed to from middle school), and I most certainly DO hug them and wouldn't refuse one. Anyway, does anyone have any cute or funny or interesting stories of affection to share?
It's pretty common knowledge that hair discussions and issues run deep in the African American community. I always tried to emphasize that ALL kinds of hair is beautiful, but you wouldn't believe how often my little girls wanted to pet me. :haha: I used to joke that I'm not a pony! I wish they knew how beautiful their poofs and braids are.
Granted, I teach the younger ones-so that was definitely something I had to get used to (the hugging part). But this year I have one that will cling onto my leg or my skirt and not let go. I also don't want to just rebuff her, but I have to walk. She'll also run up to random teachers in the hall and hug them too-the teacher will be like "I don't know her" and I'll say "I know"-that's just how she is, very affectionate.
I have children that want to pet me too I know they are curious about the texture of my hair. It was a little strange at first. vI have a lot of huggers to. I most definitely hug back. For the boys it is often a side hug. Some of my kids only get attention and love during school hours. I've not had any kissers thankfully .. It was hard enough to get use to the hugging and petting. It is all about the kids and not about me. Please excuse typos (to instead of too ECT) I'm on my phone and it's acting wonky.. Won't let me edit.
I have lots of kissers in my 3rd grade class. Now, we do need to remember that here it is customary to give a kiss on each cheek when you meet or see someone. So kisses aren't as big of a deal. I still don't like it. I don't really like hugging either, I was just not cut out for elementary. What I do now is when the kids come up for a kiss/hug I "play fight" with them in slo-mo. They really get a *kick* out of it lol and then I don't have to give out hugs/kisses. Or sometimes I'll dance with them. Oh- I also do a lot of fist bumps. They love all the different kinds. (turkey, snail, explosion, train, etc)
I remind them that kisses are for family. I had one student who was trying to get my attention as I was talking to another teacher and he reached up with both hands and gave me a "chest squeeze". :woot:
This happens in the middle grades as well. My middle schoolers wanted to play with my hair all the time. Always asking to touch it, brush it, braid it. Kids would just walk up and run their hands through my hair as they walked by. Drive my petting. WIth younger kids, my personal kids' teachers explain that you have to ask people if they want your affection (hugs) but we save the kisses for family.
I had one fella who liked to hug me every day. He has Aspergers, and he was quite a hoot. The first time he hugged me, he gave me a day's notice. He hugged the teacher across the hall, then he walked over to me and said, "Now, after I hug Ms. Teacher tomorrow, I'm going to hug you, too, okay?" So . . . he did. Bless his heart, he was right at boob level, and the other teacher and I noticed that he would lay his face right on our boobs when he'd hug. We had to have the "appropriate hug" talk with him. After that, he gave "side hugs" with the explaination of "I have to hug you like this from now on because it isn't appropriate to hug anyone other than my mom the other way." I have a group of huggers this year, too. The girls all want to touch my clothes and my hair. I have had to define my personal space for them.
Once back when I was a sub, this cute, little 2nd grader had a crush on me because I subbed for his class all the time. He'd say, "I love you" quite often. I'd just say "that's nice" at the time. That's all he ever did. Then, fast forward a year or two when I subbed for his class again...well, he was in 3rd or 4th by then & never said a word about it again. I never saw him again, but he must be in HS by now. There's always those certain few kids that want to hug. This year, not so much because at one school, I've had all those kids last year, so they know how I am & I'm definitely NOT the huggy type. The other school I'm at is a middle school where I only see most kids 1x/wk for 30 minutes, so they just do their thing & they're gone again.
On the way out the door each day, I offer my kids a handshake, a high five, a hug or just a send off wave....kids choice.
You would think teaching HS I wouldn't have the hug problem, but there are a couple of girls that always want a hug so it's a side hug for them. A couple of the boys get a fist bump if we see each other in the hall.
I have one student who is actually in another 3rd grade class that hugs me like there is no tomorrow. She's in my friend's class and I often see her at the end of the day because she is always late to be picked up and still hanging around. She will hold on for WAY longer than what I would consider "normal" and it is kind of awkward! How do I nicely tell her to stop? The other day I made a joke about needing to walk somewhere else and she just said, "I'll go with you!"
I do this too! As they're leaving, I ask each kid, "handshake, high five, or hug?" It's interesting what they choose, and there's always a few who ask for all 3
I was a very huggy child in school. I always wanted to hug my teacher goodbye every day. The whole tone towards this in my district now is very different in my last district. There is just this very awkward distance between teachers and students that didn't exist at my last job. There is was not unusual for a student to come up to me in the hall and put his/her arm around me and chat, hug, etc. One funny story I had was I had this really goofy, funny kid. I had him a couple years as I taught different grade levels. You just had to know this kid - super friendly, just impossible not to like, would sometimes do minor things to get the class off task but you couldn't help but laugh at him. Anyway, one day he was in the hall with his girlfriend, and he just gave her a little peck before they went to class. That's wasn't allowed, but it wasn't like they were making out or anything, so I just kind of said "Ok guys..." to get them to move on. He turned and looked at me and said "Oh, you just want one too" and before I knew what was happening, he gave me this big kiss on the cheek. I was kind of shocked at first, but like I said, if you knew the kid, it was pretty funny. (And yes, I did reprimand him later, when I stopped laughing).
