Children In Need

When I reflect back on my childhood I realize that I lived a very protected and sheltered life. I grew up on a dairy farm in central Minnesota.

Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay it's not the end.
Author: Veronica Mars

I was the youngest of five children. We were all expected to help with the farm work as well as the yard work. My mother planted a huge garden so we helped weed, pick and can the produce. I went to elementary and high school is a small town seven miles from the farm. I had friends and was involved with school, community and church activities. I went to the university in the city twenty miles from the family farm. I stayed on campus so that I would have a chance to experience campus life. It was not until I did my field experience for my social work major at the beginning of my junior year that I realized how fortunate a childhood I had.

I declared a social work major at the end of my sophomore year. I had taken summer semester classes so I was able to do my field experience during the fall semester.

Snowmen fall from Heaven unassembled.
Author: Unknown

My advisor asked me the population I thought I was least comfortable working with. I told him that I have spent time with elderly, mentally disabled and physically handicapped, but I was least comfortable around children. He challenged me to find a field experience in which I would be dealing with children in need. He wanted me to experience working in an area where I was challenging my comfort level as well as finding out if I had the skills necessary to work with children in need. I took his advice and interviewed to volunteer at a residential treatment facility for emotionally disturbed children with behavior problems. I was allowed to volunteer at the facility. I could not believe the backgrounds of the children I was working with. I knew that there was child abuse and childrens mental health issues, but I had no idea how many children in need there were in our area. It was a sobering experience for me. I realized for the first time in my life what a privileged childhood I had experienced.

After my experience I knew that I would be spending a great portion of my career working with children in need. It was challenging, but I found that my confidence that was given to me in my childhood was something that I wanted to share with children in need. I wanted to help them discover that adults can be trusted and differences can be accepted. I was very thankful that semester for the advice from my advisor as well as for the family that I grew up in.

I found your smile in the evening shadow... and the Rain wrapped me with you splendor..at dawn, the wind whispered your promise of forever ...then the morning came with YOU....
Author: Moneshearl

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