Dear Limewave:

+ a million
My own children used to chastise me for coming to their baseball games, sitting apart from the other parents, and grading papers. I had to explain to them that I did it because I didn't want to get into one of the discussions like you had. Every conversation started and ended about teachers. I always wondered, gee who is talking about me right now?
One of my esteemed bosses had a favorite saying: "the deadliest place for a teacher is the soccer field on Saturday morning."

And, this is why when I go to school meetings now, I always preface it with "I was a teacher for 30 years," so they don't think I'm one of those therapists who only sees the good side of a kid for 1-2 hours a week.