It's my Diary & I'll Blog if I want to...
So.... I wanna Blog. Forget the diary (I will keep my fave purple book - bought for wedding guests comments but not needed - for more private stuffs).
I worked Youth Club tonight and I actually felt I did a good job. It's nice to feel proud of oneself occasionally! I reigned in 2 challenging young girls and had a laugh as we baked cookies :-D
I recently found a diary in a bookshop called 'Wreck This Journal' (Keri Smith). A brilliant idea, the diary has a different instruction on each page i.e. drop this building from a high wall/building, colour a page in with coffee, colour outside the lines, punch holes in a page etc. I was enthralled with it - what a brilliant way of promoting creative thinking and slight rebellion. I want to buy one for myself and everyone I know! I've also seen Keri has authored 'This Is Not a Book' and 'Mess: The Manual of Accidents and Mistakes'.
It also links to the Young People we work with. Their lives are very different to the childhood I was lucky to experience. Their parents regularly tell them they're worth very little and many have been in physical conflict with another member of their family (and usually people outside too). I have to remind myself that they have never been encouraged to care about other people, let alone the planet (I'm on a constant recycling mission!), as this kindness is unlikely to have been shown toward them. In their experience it's each to their own; take what you can get otherwise you might miss out.
They're good kids, and the chipping away that we do each week can't do any harm (I have to believe this), but we also can't change the culture they're raised in. And who is to say we should.
Although when working with parents, I used to wonder if they had even considered/realised how much research and studies had been done around what harms/stimulates a child. Their lives were often so chaotic, which is what they were used to, that parenting as a subject may not have crossed their minds.
Young People, certainly myself, are taught by society and the adults around them, to do as they're told. Yet many adults aren't role modelling positive behaviour. In my case, I didn't fit much rebellion into my life, apart from a nightclub experience at 15yrs old and a minute tattoo at 18yrs! My parents split when I was 16yrs so I pretty much became an adult and a friend to my Mum. Not her fault, as who knows who to handle and marriage breakdown.
So blogging, writing, wrecking journals are all fab. Exploring, reading, learning and praise :-D I'm reading a cheesy American book at the moment about keeping your mind open to opportunities, breathing, taking life in and finding your Gift.
Who knows where we or any of these Young People will end up. All we can do is our best to contribute positively to their lives and role model kindness.
