Teaching is extremely rewarding , as I said in an earlier posting.
I sometimes feel that the children ,with their unique and fascinating opinions, are the ones keeping me sane!
I think most long- in- the- tooth teachers have a wealth of stories about "those special moments".We could all write a book (if we had the time!)
It is the politics and ridiculous bureaucracy which are exhausting and demoralising.   

e.g:

We were recently subjected to a review of our marking by our link inspector. We all had to provide a cross section of our class books for "scrutiny" Fair enough.
However, she then got out a check list of points she was looking for.(which no-one had ever seen or heard of before).By ticking boxes she came up with a theory of how well the children were progressing - which bore no resemblance to reality.If we now follow the way she wants us to mark and comment,we will be filling the workbooks with our own writing, rather than the child's.(write a comment about how the learning objective was achieved, write a "next step comment" and pose a further question, comment on handwriting and presentation, then comment after the next session on how the pupil attempted that extension question............).The children only want to know if they "did their work right".No credit is given to us for discussing the work with the child unless we write it down in the book and date it.
There are 33 children in my mixed age group class. Every activity has to be differentiated for individual children in many subjects.This has to be written onto each teaching plan and then at the end of each lesson we have to note which individuals achieve,exceed ,or fail to achieve the learning objective.
I could go on and on. The list is endless.There is obviously a need for record keeping,assessment and careful planning and marking-but it would also be nice to be trusted to get on with the job once in a while.