Kids are usually the way they are because of the life they live at home

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The older I get, the more I realize who and what matters, and the better I realize how to read people. The kids I work with are pretty difficult, but I've learned to see the things they sometimes try to hide with a hard or sneaky exterior. I've had some kids who act tough, but I can see how kind they can be when they think no one is watching. I had a girl who moved in in first grade and proceeded to move in and out of district multiple times between first and fourth grade. The problem wasn't that her parents were fighting over custody because they wanted her, but because they didn't want her. She refused to take anything home to her mom because she said her mom wouldn't want it and didn't care about her. She told me her dad no longer wanted her, so she didn't want anything to do with him anymore. I learned to genuinely care about her. She would do some pretty mean things, and she was sneaky, but never once did I really see her cry. She kept hanging out with the wrong kids and getting herself into trouble, but I got close to her, and she used to come find me whenever I was around. Sadly, she moved before the end of 4th grade, and I don't know where she went this time. I don't know if she'll ever be back, and I hate that I can't watch over her anymore. Some kids have so much potential but they hide it or are afraid to use it because they're afraid to open themselves up to good things. I had a soft spot for her and she knew I cared about her. She also knew she wasn't fooling me. I knew she did sneaky things. I knew she wasn't some angel, but I also knew there was a lot of good in her. What's sad is that when I make a prediction about her future, I could almost put money down that she will probably be a teen mom. That isn't the end of the world, and there are a ton of teenage mothers out there who are doing a great job, but I always wish these kids could get their lives together more before they have a child. Having a child in school without support (which she clearly doesn't have) makes it so much more difficult to finish school. It makes it harder to do anything with your life. She is pushed around from home to home, so if she had a child, it could take so much away from her future because she doesn't have resources to help her get somewhere in her life. I used to try to steer her towards the good kids, but she'd always seek out the kids who got her into more trouble. In that group, there is only a small handful of kids who don't regularly get into trouble. It's not to say they're all terrible kids, because a lot of them are just like my little friend who has parents who don't care about them, or at least don't care enough. When your home life is falling apart, and you know there's nothing worse the school can do to you than what you get at home, why would you care about school? A lot of these kids come in acting terrible because they want some kind of control. They don't have it in their own homes, where they can be beaten for misbehaving, but at school they know we can't lay hands on them, nor is there anything worse we can do to them than what they get at home. When new kids move in, I like to take the time to introduce myself and say hi and get to know them. When kids are shy or don't have friends, I try to introduce them to the kids I know who will be kind and helpful. Ultimately, they play with whoever and make friends that they pick, but I like to at least attempt to get them started successfully. There are just kids I know who are going to do well in the future. We have a few boys who get themselves into trouble or do or say something they shouldn't, but ultimately they're good kids. Those are the kids who have decent parents. Kids aren't perfect; they're going to mess up, but who they are usually comes out when it really matters.