The complete set of 198 Hints are available in paperback from the CYC-Net Press store.
Listen
Child and youth care work is not a peremptory service which we dish out on a "like it or lump it" basis. We don’t simply do the bare minimum so that a supervisor or senior can check that we have "carried out our duties". If we ever find ourselves feeding such attitudes into the spirit and mood of our program we will richly deserve the unpleasantness which results – and indeed we can generate cycles of hostility and retribution which can destroy us all.
Daily, hourly, minute-by-minute, we are self-aware to the point that we are aware of our motivations and attitudes, of how we react to the people and situations we work with, and of how they experience our work with them. The proof of the pudding in our profession is not that we did our work, but how our presence, leadership and interventions are experienced by the children, youth and families we work with.
We work with children, youth and families with a number of anxious needs, and there will always be criticisms of how we meet (or fail to meet) these needs. But springing to our own defence is a an unpromising response, for it doesn’t really matter what we did as much as how our clients experienced what we did.
The Minimum Standards often found in our field are worded in an interesting way. For example the Standard relating to emotional care states that "Young people receive emotional and social care which enables quality interactions with adults and peers, and which promotes positive sustained relationships at school, and with families, significant others, and friends." So far, so good. But it continues like this ...
In practice this means that young people confirm that:
a. they are encouraged to identify and express emotions
appropriately
b. they are taught effective, positive ways to express and manage emotions
and relate to others
c. they have opportunities for positive interaction
d. they experience interactions with service providers as positive and
respectful
e. service providers model healthy, effective ways to express emotions
f. they are encouraged and assisted to restore, maintain and enhance
relationships with family and significant others.
g. they are encouraged to build, and maintain appropriate relationships with
friends and service providers
h. service providers support them in coping when relationships break down
i. service providers support them in coping with the impact of having
contact or not having contact with family and/or significant others.
j. they receive adequate information on routines (such as meal times,
wake-up and bed-time) in a manner which facilitates their understanding and
cooperation, and they are assisted to participate within routines in a way
which supports their individual development.
k. they receive, own and can wear appropriate clothing for their age and
activities
So it is one thing, when you get home at the end of a shift, to complain of the awful day you had. Far more important is to have some sense of what sort of a day your clients had, how they experienced your time with them. And the chances are that there is an almost perfect correlation between what the kids and families will say about their day – and the way you feel about your day!
How was your day?!
