More Than Meets The Eye

Khalil Gibran once said, ~Your children are not your children. They are thes sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, and though they are with you, and yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love, but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls. For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backwards, not tarries with yesterday.~ When or if you ever get a chance to visit the asylum, you will see us interact and have fun with the kids, but its what you don't see that makes our job such a challenge.

For some, most, or all people working as a youth program specialist, a more fancier term than saying recreational aide, is considered to them an easy and fun job where you can basically goof off, as well as, reconnect with your inner child. To a certain extent that's true but a lot of hard work goes on behind the scenes, so to speak, as there are many facets of the job not too many people get to see and/or experience when one either signs up to work at the insane asylum or just merely an observer and/or parent. For if the asylum were given the opportunity to showed the other side of the spectrum like in a documentary type setting such MTV Diaries, we would do it to show the so called "outsiders" that its not always fun and games.

Without a doubt, a person will experience the full force of insanity once you are thrown to the wolves so to speak, and when I mean the wolves I mean the kids. However, that just a small taste compared to the hours of required training, cpr/first aide classes, weekly meeting, making daily schedules, finishing modules which can be oh so fun and yet if you have the right staff attending, a potentially boring situation turns into hilarity and mischeviousness. Its within those hours of training we brush up on apsects of the job such as health preparedness, customer relations with kids and adults, spotting child abuse, and let me tell you something there are countless stories can be told concerning child abuse that can make you angry or cry.

Yet, the question remains what do you do when all the training you have received doesn't prepare you to hear news that a child who attends or once attended the asylum passed away. Personally speaking, it can truly be a tough situation for not only us as their counselors to take that bit of news, but also to their friends as we have to be the bearer of bad news. Its at that point, where the training goes out the window and you are there for them as just a friend to have a shoulder to cry on or simply talk to if they want to. In some ways, you lose a piece of yourself as they take a piece of you to a better off place, but you know you'll see that child again someday.

In retrospect, when you become part of the asylum family you basically play a small part in the lives of the kids who you see on a semi-daily basis. I often refer to "my kids" as "children of the corn" which I use as a term of endearment but they do grow on you as they show you love and you reciprocate that love back. There have been many days where I have felt absolutely crappy and its "my kids" who have picked me up and put a smile on my face when I needed one. Its these same kids who at time don't listen, talk back, and have temper tantrums seemingly every day. Ultimately, even though they aren't my kids, they will always be "my kids" in my eyes no matter how old they are. In the end, if you're an "outsider" looking in, there is more than meets the eye going on when you think/see its just an easy job that we have fun at.