Telling the Kids.

If you ever needed a reason NOT to be a pregnant teacher, here are a few gems from the "telling the kids about the baby" conversation I had with my students today at school.

A little background... Since I've managed to keep the news quiet up until now, I wanted to go ahead and be the one to tell them so it didn't become a grapevine news story. Teachers aren't known for their ability to talk quietly, so I knew it was just a matter of time before someone hollered down the hall at me: "How's that baby cooking?" or something like that. I decided to be vague, since I figured 6th graders didn't need to know things like how many weeks along I am, or whatever; I just told them the baby would be born in November. I did, however, feel like this was a gem of an opportunity to bring out my "12 week old fetus" rubber doll, to show them that a baby IS a baby, even before it's born. The rubber doll is 3 inches tall and looks a bit... odd. I mean, you can tell it's a baby, but it's an ugly baby. Here, I found a picture of one online... but mine is most definitely gender neutral.



Back to their comments:

"Gross! It looks like an alien! You're having an alien?"

"Um, Mrs. Carson, did I ask about your personal life? NO!"

"You know, I wondered why you were getting kinda chunky. I thought maybe you were just eating more."

"Is that why you've been drinking all that fiber?" (so sue me, I love Benefiber)

"I thought you were getting a puppy!" (in her defense, that was my default story a few weeks back when she overheard me having a conversation with another teacher)

"So that means you got pregnant in February, right?" (way to go, math genius... to which I responded "WHOA. TMI.")


But the BEST one... About 5 minutes into the conversation with one class (after I'd said specifically, "I'm going to have another baby") one of my students blurts out:

"Wait a minute! So, does that mean you're like... pregnant?"


All I have to say is... I sure am glad I teach English. Lord help their Science teachers...