Tough Call

I'm in the business of what's best for kids. At least, that's what I say when I screw stuff up at work and when I had the best intentions in mind. But I do actually believe it...I believe it to a fault, one might say. Kids come to me, and I listen and I encourage and I just want to make their lives easier (even though a lot of the time I'm thinking..."you've got to be kidding me!"). But some kids think that their Word Processing class is the end of the world and that they can't possibly live continuing to attend this class. They really believe that!

Well, I listen to said kid about his Word Processing class. I listen to the fact that he has no study halls, he's a freshmen, and he's playing a Fall sport. And I empathize. So, I work the system. I get him out of the class so he can have a study hall, so he can pass his other classes, so he can still be involved in his sport and not flunk and have to stay back as a freshmen and then not graduate and drop out and live in a brothel and end up in jail. (Yeah, I do all that!)

However, another student comes through my door with the exact same problem. And, wait, what's this? Yet another student with....wait....yup, the same problem...same class and everything! Now, I'm in my third year of this school counseling business, so I catch on pretty quick (I'm no dummy! Well, kind of...) And I realize that there's something else going on. And so...in my quest to do what's best for kids, I get lost navigating the minds of these kids - are they just trying to get out of working hard, or are they really struggling.

Frustrating thing #1: Nothing is ever black and white in my job. It just isn't. I am constantly navigating this grey, blue, red (and every other color) area in the middle trying to do what's best for each individual kid. It sucks. Yet, I don't think I could do my job well in any other environment. But it still sucks.

Frustrating thing #2: Kids don't know what "keep it on the DL" means when you're changing their schedule against your administrator's wishes and don't want them to tell their friends...

Frustrating thing #3: I believe kids way too much. I need to be more critical when I'm listening to their stories. But then, though I would be a counselor who didn't get walked all over, I probably would not be a very effective one either. My job IS to believe these kids...or at least believe IN them (woah, that was deep!)

Frustrating thing #4: Scheduling is the worst part of my job. I LOVE everything else but scheduling, and yet it's the thing that draws the most attention when things go wrong. Frustrating!

So anyway, I'm really just venting. Sometimes I think that my maternity leave cannot come soon enough. Oh man...change schedules or give birth...tough call. (And I bet, from the title of this blog, you thought the tough call was what to do for kids...)