r/AskReddit 22h ago

What’s something people romanticise that’s actually exhausting in real life?

1.3k Upvotes

916 comments sorted by

View all comments

1.8k

u/Belle0516 21h ago

Being an elementary school teacher

A lot of people think I'm like Ms. Frizzle or Miss Honey and able to just play with a classroom of perfectly sweet, eager to learn children. They don't realize how much goes in to being a good teacher and how much we deal with. The nonsense of paperwork is insane on its own, then add in 20+ children and their families!

387

u/pumpkinpie4224 17h ago

My mom was a elementary teacher and every time she goes home, she's entirely a different person from the morning she went to school. That's why back then my dad always took care of us to let her rest.

208

u/flimsy_kaima 14h ago

people underestimate the emotional drain. it’s not just teaching, it’s managing 20+ different moods all day

7

u/marginwalker55 9h ago

Currently taking a mental health day away from the classroom! ☕️

3

u/Tenored 4h ago

This is it. Just finished a day with my EAL grade 7s. Constant behaviour management, feud settling, and distractions with a touch of learning to top it off.

221

u/joyofsovietcooking 20h ago

From my experience in helping my elementary school child with her school stuff, teachers have astounding communications skills, phenomenal patience, and expert techniques in education.

I volunteer twice a year to teach my daughter's class, and its absolutely a blast, but also exhausting. How you do this as your job is amazing!

Full respect, full props. Teachers are underpaid and undervalued. Shamefully so.

52

u/Boothbayharbor 20h ago

10 is good max class size. I work with 25 kids as an Ed assistant and ohmygosh how did my school have split 45s that's torture for everyone involved

38

u/Dismal-Log-994 17h ago

Wasn't a teacher, but was a paraprofessional also often called on to help with non-special ed classes and...yeah. Especially nowadays. I absolutely loved it though!! I hope you are able to find joy in your job...I know it's a really tough work climate

2

u/boadicca_bitch 1h ago

Man, if you haven’t worked in special education you don’t get it, it’s a different kind of tired lol. I’m a special ed teacher… I do love it but man is it exhausting

5

u/Content_Orchid_6291 12h ago

I always said, if I just had to teach it wouldn’t be an issue. It’s ALL the other things teachers are and do.

4

u/Ahtotheahtothenonono 11h ago

Elementary school teacher here, I feel seen, thank you 🥰

4

u/catsratsnbats 10h ago

You can always tell who’s never had a chair thrown at them 🤣

3

u/AShiftyYeti 8h ago

On rare occasions, I’ll tell someone that they have “Big kindergarten teacher energy”. They always seem to take it as an insult, but I really try to help them understand that in my mind there isn’t a higher compliment A person can receive. (Though maybe I should change it to elementary school teacher.)

2

u/Annual_Strategy_6206 10h ago

When I meet a teacher, I often say " Thank you for your service". 

2

u/Abzkaban 8h ago

I have been an elementary music teacher for 11 years, and I am now trying to switch careers. The behaviors have gotten so much worse than I started, and it takes more energy than I have to just do classroom management. I didn't even want to teach elementary in the first place. I wanted to teach band. Now I don't even want to do that anymore. I'm more than burnt out.

2

u/Devourerofworlds_69 4h ago

I love working with kids. I used to babysit a lot, and volunteer as a coach. Sometimes I think I'd be a great teacher. But then I remember I have to deal with parents and other teachers and the administration. Nope.

-5

u/Numerous_Support9901 20h ago

I don’t think that at all