Sad Experience
Submitted by Tedd on June 30 1999 at 18:28:32
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Hello again, Just wanted to let you all know of my experience today. I am a CPR In structor for the American Red Cross and was asked to teach a course today at a home for boys. This is a place that is for 8-12 yo boys with behaveral problems. I was teaching the people who ran the place, not the boys. What shocked me was not the fact that they were aparently bad children, (They were perfectly polite to me), but the strictness that was employed. Corpral punishment is NOT allowed there but here are some of the things that are. First, there are cameras in every room, except the bathrooms, which watch thier movments at night. (They are not supposed to leave thier rooms after bedtime). They recieve "Tokens" for doing chores, following the rules, etc. These tokens can then be used to "Buy" priviladges such as 30 minutes of Nintendo play, or an Hour of TV, or recess, etc. EVERYTHING must be "Bought". While on a break, I was reading a list that was posted which indicated minor and major behavior infractions. Nextto each infraction was the amount of tokens that were to be taken away. For exsample, for not following instructions, 2 tokens are taken. 20 tokens are taken for physical contact with another boy, (Violent or otherwise). And perhaps the most disturbing behavior infraction, which I was told does happen on many ocasions is "Inapropriate Sexual Behavior". for which 18 tokens are taken. This is for 8-12 year old boys! Finaly, EVERYTHING is locked up, including the child's personal posesions such as toys. To access these, the boy must "Buy it with tokens. Even thier toothbrush and tooth paste is locked up and the boys have to wait untill the house adult unlocks the cabnet and hands it to them, immideatley after use, they must return them to the cabnet. Although the boys do not get followed into the bathroom, an adult is waiting by the door and timing them. Once the aloted time is up, they are told to hurry. This includes an alloted time to utilise the toilet. As I said before, these boys were very polite to me, calling me sir, until I told them my name. Then it was Mr. ______. Using my first name. One boy in particular caught my eye. He is a 9 year old boy who has aparently been labled a "Fire Bug". This is a sweet boy. Although I was not teaching CPR to the boys, they saw me teaching the adults and while I was outside, he had aparently bought some free time with his tokens, this boy found a dead cricket and proceeded to administer CPR compressions. I couldn't help but laugh. Yet, I was sadened by what these boys must have gone through to have the courts put them in a place like this. All doors are locked at all times. I had to get let out by an adult with the key when I wanted to leave. I have tried and tried to get the "Buterflies" out of my stomache. Children this age should not have to go through something almost as hard as boot camp. To see them asking for permision to go to the bathroom made my heart ache. To see them asking for access to thier toys, hurt me. I do not think I can go back and see that again. I am afraid that I may have fallen in love with the boy I spoke about. Tears well up when I think of what he is going through right now. It is 8:00 PM here and according to the strict scedule, he is in the shower and about to go to bed. Only 30 minutes a day are alloted for "Lesiure Time". And that they must "Buy". I wanted to take him in my arms and tell him that I would take him home with me, where he could play with his toys whenever he wanted to, where he didn't have to go to a Locked classromm for school, even during the summer. Perhaps this program works. I was only there for a day. I was told that once a week they have "Field Trips". and there is a sceduled time every day for parents to visit. But still, It hurt me, it struck me deep within. Well, once again, I thank you for allowing me this way of venting my frustrations. God bless you and God bless the boys at the Home. May they be with thier families soon. I can only pray that they will go through however many months that the judge sentanced, yes it is a sentance in my mind. Hopefully, they will soon be back with thier parents and be able to be children again. Although I do not have any suggestions for a better system, there has got to be a better way than this. It will take months, or maybe longer for me to get those boys out of my mind. It is all I think about. |