Thursday, August 11

More Mean

I admit I’m a bit of a softie. However, now it has been confirmed.

The other day I had the, err, pleasure of working with our youngest and most exhausting group of children. Five minutes before the end of my torture shift a nine year-old boy with a rather long record of psychological and behavioral issues said to me with earnest, “Miss Lora, You’ve gotta be more mean. We’re bad kids.”

It was all I could do not to laugh.

7 comments:

tapestrygirl said...

i can relate to that so much!!!

i did a brief stint at a home for teens overcoming drug/alcohol abuse. i felt more like a peer than an adult, so i had to leave. besides, i didn't like being the heavy. i'd probably be better about it now, it's been 7 years and that's a lot of time to mature and stuff.

Megan Stuke said...

Oh Lora, you'll learn! I am a teacher, and I thought I'd be a pushover, but 8 years in lemme tell you -- I'm scary. In a very loving way, of course!

Bearette said...

That is funny. I remember when I was studying to be a lawyer, my mother-in-law said, "I think you need to be MEANER." Well, fortunately, I don't think it will come up as a yoga teacher.

utenzi said...

Are you going to take his advice, Lora?

Anonymous said...

My youngest son said when he was 16, "sometimes I wish you were a mean mom so I could do whatever I wanted to." My oldest, also at 16, said, "I wish I didn't care so much about what you think." Ha.

Lora said...

I'm still waiting to here that same child to tell me that I'm too mean, which I'm sure will happen soon. As I'm learning the way things operate I am getting much tougher, but in a humanistic manner.

This is not the type of job that I wouls have been emotionally able to handle when I was younger, but now that I'm older it's easier to set the type of limits needed.

andrea said...

that is priceless. funny, kids know exactly what they need (even if they don't WANT it)...