Current Events — HabitableZone

Current Events » in reply to Re: Don't worry

OK, then... truce?
Mary Anne — (archived)

I respect your experience with children, now that I understand where you're coming from.

Among the kids I see are youthful offenders who are assigned to my department for community service. Sometimes they are basically well-behaved and well-cared-for kids who did something impulsive, and sometimes they are troubled kids who have a history of being ignored until they get into trouble. None of them are over 18.

What's particularly galling for me is that several of my assignees used to be volunteers for me in my department in our old facility. They would shelve and they would talk and talk, and I would listen, and we would read novels, and talk about them. When we moved to our new facility, I was told we wouldn't have youth volunteers anymore because of the high-profile nature of the new building. I'm beginning to build the corps back up, little by little, and I got the Young Adult section moved to my floor, where they can talk and hang out without having to be Quiet. But I wonder if some of the kids who come to us now from the courts would have been acting out so much if they had had a place to go where they felt they belonged, and where somebody paid attention to them.

That's the pov I was coming from. I guess -- no, that's dishonest: I know -- I projected some of that onto what you said. Ah, the hazards of the internet. All the speed of the phone, and none of the inflection...

Regards--
Mary Anne

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