Thursday, April 30, 2009

Parent Break


Yesterday Papa Seed and I went to a class that was being offered for folks involved in the Foster care system - either as parents or workers. Although we are no longer "Foster Parents", we want to keep our license current. You never know. It always makes me think of Tammy Wynette, who said she always kept her hairdresser license current in case the music industry gig fell through. That probably isn't the best analogy. Somehow it works for me.

Unlike some of the classes we have been to which are total snooze cruises, this one was very interesting - "The Disruptive Teenager" I think it was called. Something like that. We really liked the slightly crazy, totally energetic, very smart woman who taught the class, especially since she introduced the session by discussing how much she hated pathologizing kids by sticking a label on them that they would carry on their foreheads the rest of their lives. Yep. Papa Seed and I totally agree with that. Everyone has to have a diagnosis, a label, a sickness or mental illness. We wanted to be very careful just to call Mancub by his name. I think we've done pretty good with that piece.

It was also all a bit overwhelming. As the class went on, the stories became more intense - the stories about kids who just have everything going against them. The firestarters, the animal torturers, the suicidal ones. It is all so sad. Lives that are chaotic and insane from the time they land on earth - their version of "normal" is something so very shattered it is hard to wrap our minds around it.

We had a lunch break that we took advantage of by hitting a Vietnamese restaurant nearby. Papa Seed and I never get to have lunch together during the week. That was nice.

2 comments:

Tammy Wynette said...

You guys should be applauded for your commitment to to our son and to the very notion of adoption and rearing. I think about what you are doing and it makes me so angry that the two of you aren't recognized as a legally married couple, and that most people in this redonk country would disapprove of not only your lifestyle, but having an adopted son too. It seems that the bar for being a gay activist has changed, and you guys are right on the bleeding edge of new gay activism. Very proud to know both of you.

Amy Grant said...

Yeah... where's the latest blog updates?!? Snap out of the facebook trap! You are better than that.