Reddit, what do you need to get off your chest?

I am new to teaching, and I am actually allowing the flattery of my high school students to affect me. I'm a young-ish, decently attractive (and very single) guy in a school with few teachers who fit that bill, and I receive my share of attention from the female students. Nothing whatsoever that is overtly sexual or anything like that--and if it was, I would stomp it out in a nano-second. Still, as much as I hate to admit it, lacking much else in that department at the moment, I have been prone to putting too much emphasis on their (perceived) recognition. I am not talking about acting out and stepping over any boundaries whatsoever--that is not going to happen. But it is a detriment to their education and everyone's well-being, my own included, that I have allowed any lines to be blurred psychologically in the first place. I feel pretty pathetic letting a few teenaged girls' innocent mini-crushes impact me in any way, and, as I value their development as people quite seriously, I feel that I am at least in some way violating their trust by giving it any consideration at all. I know that anything that is even remotely, tangentially related to this sort of topic can and will elicit emotionally-charged responses. Even suggesting that a minor crush from a teenage girl gives me a nice feeling will make some people want to burn me at the stake. I guess if I am being as honest as possible, I should anticipate the same frankness from others.

/r/AskReddit Thread