That Question

So I'm minding my own business, teaching students and taking care of some paperwork. One of my female students comes up to me (these are 9th graders) and says, "Can I ask you a personal question?" I was like, "Okay....?" So she says,

"Are you pregnant?"

Cue overwhelming tidal wave of bad emotions.

"No."

But she didn't stop there. She then added,

"ARE YOU SURE?"

I told her "YES" and then she went back to her seat.

Class ended, they left. It was my lunch period, so I decided to call DH to vent. Just as I was about to pick up the phone, another student entered the room. She was one of mine from last year, so I smiled and said hello. She said,

"A friend of mine in one of your classes had a question but was too embarrassed to ask you. Are you pregnant?"

I was like, "F%^&*(%@!%^*&W@$$%" in my head. SERIOUSLY?!?!?! This has to be the worst timing ever.

So I just kind of fake laughed and said, "No, I've just eaten too much chocolate. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA."

She was like, "Oh, chocolate! Can I have some?"

I was like, GTFO. No, I didn't say that. I said, "Come back tomorrow and I'll give you some."



I completely understand why these students asked this question. I live in a town where the average teen pregnancy rate is very high. Girls think it's cute to have babies. They are totally oblivious to the fact that 1) children are a lot of work and 2) not everyone gets pregnant when they want to. They have no idea what infertility even is, or that that is even a problem for some people. I get it. I really do. Culturally, it is okay for them to ask that question. They want to ooh and ahh over a teacher who they like (at least I hope they like me) and ask me questions about all that.

But seriously. Has no one ever explained that it is RUDE to ask a woman if she's pregnant, or that they might be offending the person?? Or metaphorically stabbing a knife through that person's heart because they CAN'T get pregnant??

I really wanted to punch something today. But I didn't. I came home and danced my a## off for half an hour. I think it's the stress eating and the meds that has caused me to put on so much weight. I have gone up one pant size in the last calendar year and currently weigh 190. EEK. I do not want to weigh so much. Time to dance my a$$ off some more and quit eating my emotional problems or trying to solve them with chocolate.

Even though chocolate is really, really tasty. :-(