Some get help...

     Last night was the parent teacher meetings. That went well; much less painful than I thought it was going to be. Coincidentally, all the parents of the students that are doing well in class came in, while the parents of the students that appear to be struggling did not show in. Hmmm... Anyways, it was very interesting seeing the parents of the students. One interesting case that I will share: There is a student that smells deeply of smoke every morning. (A quick aside, why do parents smoke near their children? In my eyes it's abuse.) Her mother who happened to come in was quite charming however. Still, my eyebrow was raised (on the inside) even while she presented herself as a responsible parent. I later learned (from the teacher) that the mother apparently is just telling us what we want to hear and the young girl in question appears to be suffering from neglect of a sort. What does one do? What does a teacher do in general when parents are not meeting our standards of parenthood? Where does one draw the line on irresponsible parenting? How can a teacher in their limited role best help a child with such profound problems? Maybe I should have gone for a job with Child Protective Services... I could have helped clean it up or something.