No excuse.

I just want to take a moment and thank the military families (with children) that are being awesome parents and raising respectful, courteous, informed, and well behaved children. Thank you for all that you do. Seriously.

And double thanks for letting the military be all the more reason to encourage the cognitive, emotional, and physical growth of your children instead of an excuse to ignore these fundamentals.

I must say, I am so fortunate to have a job at a school on base. I get to be actively involved in the lives of children who remind me so much of myself. I get to see the impact that the military has on their lives, good and bad. I can relate to their frustrations, their feelings, and their pride.

I can even relate to their situations. I understand what it's like to live with a house full of kids, no dad around, and living paycheck to paycheck because you're only income is corporal pay. I get that. My parents were TEENAGERS when they wed and had children. My mom was 15 when she got pregnant with my brother, 17 with me. My dad was in basic training when I was born.

We WERE these families. We were that struggling enlisted family wondering how they were going to find money for the next bill or next grocery trip. We were the family wondering when daddy was coming home again.

But I'm sorry, I'm so sick of this being an excuse for children to act rude, disrespectful, and like total brats. There, I said it. I may sound bitchy right now but I'm tired of seeing children getting free tickets for bad behavior. But mostly I'm angry at their parents. They are the way they are because mom and dad are using the military as an excuse to let their children grow up to be heathens.

It makes me so sad to know that these children will only learn social skills and manners from school because they are not getting it at home. It makes me so angry that a majority of instructional time is spent teaching children how to be respectful and follow the rules. We shouldn't have to do that. I'm guessing you can figure out who I think should be responsible. Hmmm...

And what makes me even angrier is that the good students, the ones whose parents are teaching to be respectful and contributing members of society, are ignored and lost in the crowd. It's not fair.

If you want teachers and substitutes and faculty to remember your student's name, make sure that you don't teach them how to respect adults or follow the rules. We'll learn their names within the first minute, I promise you.

Please don't let this rant make you think that I dislike children or that I think that all military families suck at raising their kids. There are some awesome parents and children in my classes. It's just that they are so often overshadowed by the downright nasty and rude children and parents that we encounter. It's so sad but true.

But I'm tired of being spit on, kicked, cursed at, and told that I suck. I'm not exaggerating folks. These are 3, 4, and 5 year olds doing this stuff. It's just not right.

But I promise you that it will make me try that much harder. I will continue to try to teach them to do the right thing- to respect, to listen, to become contributing members of society. I will continue trying every day.

But if I hear, "The kids are just like this because the parents are so young and dad's gone all the time." ONE MORE TIME I'M GOING TO SCREAM!!!! It's not an excuse anymore. It was done being an excuse when your child spit on me for the fourth time.