So it’s been a while since I posted… I always have things to post about but then I delete them because I feel like I’m using this blog just to whine… Maybe it’s because in life I really am a happy, positive person and I never remain upset or in a bad mood for long. Maybe all that whining needs to come out on this blog, but I hate complainers…
Anyhow, I have taken a new job in which a disabled child is in my care for twelve hours, three days a week. I even go to school with them! As far as I’m concerned these are the best nursing jobs to be had, because you can devote all your attention to your one patient and address all their needs.
The last time I had a job like this, I worked in a very affluent neighborhood. This time around, it’s the opposite. Many things are the same… Up until about the fourth grade, kid seem unable to keep their hair brushed, they ask to go to the bathroom just to get out of class, and they are EXTREMELY blunt. At both schools there is entirely too much focus on standardized tests… But there are also some big differences…
The affluent school I worked in had a huge salad bar just for teachers and adult visitors to utilize for lunch. Once a week they had a baked potato too, tea or lemonade included, all for two bucks! At this school, adults get the same lunch as kids, (which has been cold pizza three times this week!) but are charged twice as much. Iced tea is an extra charge. The playground is smaller, the equipment is older. And I have seen kids in clothes that don’t fit.
When I say I have seen kids in clothes that don’t fit, I don’t mean that their pants are a little highwater, and the parents are just waiting the few weeks until it’s too warm to breathe here in Texas, so they can just go ahead and buy summer clothes. I mean the clothes are tight, streched, pulled thin and full of holes. Shirts reveal navels, jeans that should reach the ankle reach the calf. Kids are in the cold without jackets.
I’m sure the parents of these kids, for the most part, were just like me… Had baby showers with their friends, Jotting down names with their spouse to see what works with their last name best, put their sonogram photos on the refridgerator, waited oh so anxiously for them to finally BE HERE! And once they were here, the minute that child was placed in their arms their heart overflowed with more love than they ever thought possible… They probably didn’t once dream that they would be sending them through the lunch line to get free lunch in shoes that don’t fit…
I know that there are worse things that could happen than to not be able to afford things like clothing… I’ve had some awful things happen to me in the last few years, and I know there are worse things still. But I believe, for the most part, I have protected my children from these things and allowed them to continue to lead their lives with very little care.
I’m grateful for that.
Grateful
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