child_wisdom unhinged i am very forthright with my students about my moods. if i am in a bad mood i let them know up front so that they don't take it personally. some would say that's unprofessional but a teacher/student relationship doesn't have much to do with customer service if you ask me. the other day one of my favorite students walked in her lesson after a two week absence. it was toward the end of the night and my hormones have been flared up recently. it is a given that this little girl doesn't practice, but she's one of my favorites because she is just a cool little girl. 'ok jaden. come on. get your violin out. i have my cranky pants on today. hurry up.' in all seriousness 'well why don't you just take them off then?' 100623 ... unhinged i have been teaching john for almost four years. he is eight. he is my little composer. eight going on twenty eight. infinitely curious, likes to be challenged. stubborn as shit, but amazingly creative. sometimes i walk a fine line with being too friendly with my students. sometimes i don't think they take me seriously because i chat with them about life. john is one of those kids; he tempts me to be mean. indirectly of course, but i feel like i should be more stern and less friendly. last week we were getting ready without his mom cause she had to go back to the house for her checkbook and i was acting goofy 'i'm kinda goofy today if you haven't noticed. not sure why. i was sitting in the sun today. maybe that's why....' 'yeah, the sun makes you joyful' i looked at him and laughed 'yeah, that's a good word for it. joyful' it rolled off my tongue 100705 what's it to you? who go blather from