There is a fine line between helping and being taken advantage of.

I’ve been trying to walk that line for the past 10 months. And this afternoon, as I had another high school student ask me to help/do (there is a fine line there as well) their homework, I began to reevaluate my position on that line.

It was true that I do now how to do what he needed to do. It was true that I was going to make him look up all the words in the dictionary himself. It was true that I really had nothing better to do. 

But my instinct had been to say whatever I needed to get this kid to leave me alone. It could have been because I was concerned about what would happen if this got back to his teacher. It could have been because of several circumstances where people have told me I need to be more assertive. It could have been because I really just wanted to take a nap.

People know that I am here for them, but how much is too much? Is there such a thing as too much when I come where I come from?

I ended up helping him and reevaluating my previous position on helping students who weren’t my students.

I couldn’t help wondering if being a little taken advantage of was a little part of my job.