As Days Go By

Erna Bornbeck once said, ~One thing they never tell about child raising is that for the reswt of your life, at a drop of a hat, you are expected to know your child's name and how he or she is.~ As a youth development specialist, which is better than saying counselor or recreational aide, you're always going to be remembered by the kids as an influential part of their lives even though you may forget who they are at times, especially former aslyum kids. It can be a truly embaressing situation when former asylum kids see you or walk up to you and say do you remember me? Let me tell you something, being put on the spot to try to remember one child out of hundreds can put any person in a toughs spot.

Working with kids for an extended period of time can really affect your mental status and attitude, which can rub off on the kids in the asylum. We've all had our bad days, we've all had our good days, and there are those particular days that are somewhere in between. Initially one's semminly good day can either turn weird or bad because quite frankly, working in the asylum as long as I have, you begin to have somewhat of a sixth sense as to what might be on the horizon, in a manner of speaking. Several factors can play into it such as the weather, how may employees have or haven't shown up for work, and with a doubt waking up on the wrong side of the bed.

Undoubtedly there are days where you just feel like crap and coming to work can oftentimes raise one's "I've had it up to here level" to the breaking point. To be perfectly honest, I am a pacifist, which basically means that I'm a laid back dude; but if my buttons are pushed the wrong way expect to see another side of me noone has ever seen before. However, you have to admit when kids see or feel that something is wrong they will help you in some way, shape, or form. Perfect example, last year I had somewhat of a breakdown due to stress and the kids were so concerned that they hugged me, as well as, sat down to talk with me. I will forever be in debt for those specific kids who got me through that particular tough day for me.

Anyways, for the most part one can have a handle on the kids you know or are getting to know while on the job. Yet, its the kids that I don't know that for some reason I attract when I'm out and about. Let me ask you this question, have you ever felt like you were being watched or stared at? Whether I'm in line at Wal-Mart or just going out to eat kids come up to me, who I don't even know stare at me and usually its kids that are under the age of 5. So I do the most logical thing I can think of and that is smile, make faces, and hoping they smile rather than cry. For it can be a truly awkward moment to explain to a parent why I am made their child cry and have it all end up on me getting arrested, which hasn't happened yet. *knock on wood*

Last Friday, a birthday luncheon was held at Barnhills buffett, which is a home away from home for the asylum staff. At that birthday luncheon, a parent whose kids used to go to the asylum showed up, which was a nice suprise for all of us. After everybody ate, the traditional speeches were made to the birthday girl, who I considered my mentor for training me for the past 8 years. When it reached that particular parent, he said something that truly stuck in our minds and touched us to no end. He said the reason his kids are so well behaved and turned out so good was due to our inlfuence on them. In retrospect, as days go by many things have been said to us by kid's parents, whether it was good or bad, what was said by that particular parent made each of us proud to do what we love to do....most of the time.