A Dying Breed

Ellen Key once said, ~For success in training children the first condition is to become as a child oneself, but this means no assumed childishness, no condescending baby-talk that the child immediately sees through and deeply abhors. What it does mean is to be as entirely and simply taken up with the child as the child himself is absorbed by his life.~ A person who works with kids, like myself, will tell you is not easy, for it can be a thankless and yet fulfilling job. One has to find his or her own niche in relating to a child which can be either an easy or difficult task indeed. For it's the smiles, hugs, and respect given back makes it all well worth the headaches and frustration that is oftentimes received from them.

As said before in a past thought, there will be certain realizations that will set in that will leave a person stupified. Just recently, my best friend and I came to the realization that we're at the age where we consider the kids at the asylum our sons and daughters. For most the parents that pick their children up are near or close to our age which is a sobering thought. Thinking about it though, we've helped raise them, comfort them when they were sad or injured, tried to instill right and wrong, lectured on seemingly daily basis, so in the whole scheme of things we are parents. For they will and always be considered "my kids" even if they have grown up, gotten married and have children of their own.

Working in a youth center/insane asylum, countless kids have walked through the hallowed doors and either made my job quite difficult or absolutely easy. Yet, it's those kids that are considered "children of the corn" that you will never be able to forget, trust me I've tried. In any case, there are times when you think just when you've seen or heard it all from a child, he or she will do or say something that will make us as counselors ask each other or ourselves, 'Tell me I did not just hear or see that?' Sometimes it can be a serious moment where the safety of a child takes precedent, but other times it's a moment where you just bust out laughing because of that particular situation that happened to him or her.

For it's not only countless kids that have passed through those doors, it's countless employees as well. Young and old, each person with his or own unique style of dealing and caring for a child. Of the may orderlies or patients, depending on the day, only three people have lasted the longest and that is myself, my best friend, and a female co-worker who I consider my mentor. Thinking about it, if one were to add our combined work experience it would total 31 years. In some ways, we consider ourselves the triad because we have been through so much crap together that it takes a bulldozer to haul it all away. Consequently it's those two people and several others that I trust to have my back and I for them.

Over the years, the male presence in the asylum has been noticebly decreased rather than decreased. There was a time when the male ratio outnumbered the female ratio but through time that has undeniably changed. For the brotherhood, as I like to call it, desperately needs new members to join the fold; but as of now we are holding down the fort, so to speak. In some aspects, we're like Gilligan and the Skipper, Laurel and Hardy, Batman and Robin....for we are Yoda and Biggie, a dynamic duo who have been through thick and thin for 8 years. In retrospect, we're a dying breed of guys that enjoy working with kids because in the end, they need a strong male presence that ultimately may be missing from one's own family.