That's what my bosses said as they described how the high school students they work with tell them most of what they know about how to serve them better. Really, says B, it's all about conveying to the children that you care about them. It can be so simple to show care. They do it by putting great summer camp enrichment opportunities on their radar screens, and making these seem manageable to their parents and desirable over a do-nothing vege-out summer. They also show care by providing summer job opportunities to instill in them the necessary familiarity with work and the thrill of a paycheck. Or, care can be as simple as taking them for car rides in their convertible to watch the movie "42" on a Sunday afternoon, when S. held onto her hair when B warned them before starting the ignition, "hold onto any papers or anything because they might blow away." That's actually not the relevant story to illustrate this point, but it's funny, so it's worth recording.
But B, on another occasion, took another student to a church (for an errand or something), and after the student looked closely at photos posted on the walls downstairs, concluded about what type of church it was (i.e., what kind of people go there), and B. realized she was right, and hadn't realized that herself without the student's astute, close, between-the-lines observations. (I can't deny, my little sociologist self smiled at this one: a social observer in our midst!)
B, my other boss, talked about the time when some boys were catching a ride home after school and commented that if only he got rims on his pick-up truck, then all the kids who are attracted to the gang life but actually don't like being caught up in it would turn their glance to a better leader to follow. And B said, at first he thought little of the idea. Then he tried it, and it worked.
No comments:
Post a Comment