Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Babysitting
I wasn't sure if I wanted to say this or not, but I am a probation officer with the Department of Children's Services. The kids I work with are teenagers. Most of which have done something stupid and are unlikely to do it again. The next group is kids who did something stupid, continue to do stupid things, but if they had the right environment maybe would not get into trouble. Of course finally there are kids that seem determined to fight the world. I have gotten used to working with these kids, and I really enjoy being around them. As a children's PO you spend a lot of time just waiting for the proper place to put the individual kids if they come into state's custody. The average kids will spend at least 6 hours in your cube waiting to find out where they will go. While waiting with them, you get good at cracking jokes, 7 degrees to Kevin Bacon, and making sure they don't burn down the joint. They know that they did something to get them there; you know they did something to get them there. It makes sense to all; sort of. I had the opportunity to babysit younger kids that did not come in through the court system. They didn't do anything. They didn't know why they were there. I didn't know why they were there. I hated it. Frankly, someone dying an untimely death in a car accident makes more sense. I understand that. I can explain that. I am so glad I got the "bad" kids.
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3 comments:
I babysit last night and I will babysit tonight for a family I used to be a nanny for. It's definitely cause for soul searching when you find yourself arguing with a 4 year old over who's boss.
Thankfully I won that argument. And the kids are generally very good kids. So my job was not that hard. I think i would have a very hard time doing your job.
It's easy to sit down with a kid that knows that screwed up. They may be mad at the world, but they know why they are there. The harder thing to do is get in the middle of a kids pain and just hunker down as there is nothing you can do to comfort. You may have the right words, but you're the wrong person.
Not to trivialize, but there was a dinosaur show (not Barney) and the baby dinosaur divided people between the "Momma" and "Not the Momma". Fact was you were "not the momma". You just have to be there and let the kid know its okay to miss momma, and okay to hate the person that's not the momma, at least for a while.
God Bless the work your doing with the "bad" kids and may God still leave your heart tender for all the kids that come across your cubicle because that's the hard part.
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