parents' love?

i couldn't believe i actually shed some tears for some kids when i got home, and the whole idea bugged my head the whole night. earlier yesterday, they told me, someone said to them "i know your parents don't give you love at home, and you come to school seeking attention from teachers".

believe me or not, those words did not come with sympathetic tones, as the kids described it, but it sounded more like an insult. and i doubt those words come from a sympathetic heart. or maybe those words did come from a sympathetic heart but with a completely wrong tone at the wrong time.

i won't say i grow up with lack attention from my parents, they indeed have done everything they could to ensure my siblings and i grow up well with the best education n life we could ever get. but hearing that from the kids really stabbed my heart. my mind raced to the time when i was at their age.

how could someone simply reassure you that you're not getting enough love from your parents??? what do you feel if someone tell you your parents love their work more than they love you? and worse, some of those kids do actually come from broken families.

i know that might be the reality of life. but kids are kids. they need to grow up convinced that their parents love them, even though they feel the opposite deep down in their hearts.

is it our responsibility to spit out the plain killing truth at the kids, or is it our responsibility to support them emotionally in any way we can?

whatever happens at home is between the kids and their parents. and we teachers absolutely do not have any right to tell the kids that their parents is loving them less than they are supposed to.