There are many reasons why I think it is important to share the stories of the children that I am working with. Just the other day we were discussing the behavior of one of the children, and until then I could not understand why she acted the way she did-- she was always out of control even when she had been warned not to be. It came to my attention that she does not have the greatest home life, and essentially the staff are the closest thing to real parents she has. and that when she acted out, it was merely a way for someone to pay attention to her even if it was negative attention.
In her book ,Nussbaum argues that it is very important to learn about others, but to really understand where they are coming from and the facts of their lives because this inevitiably will affect their behaviors and motivations. All too often, we only focus on our own experiences and our feelings and lose sight that there are many possible experiences. I think that it is this understanding of other people and knowing their stories that makes us want to help them even more. After finding out about the little girl's home life, only made me want to help her more, and her acting out made so much more sense to than it did before.
Before this service class, I had little patience for children and thought that anyone who chose to have a profession dealing with them was insane. Now I am finding myself very attached to the kids, and it breaks my heart thinking that after this year, I will never see them again! I work at a place here in Dubuque, which allows me to see the public all of the time. I have seen some of the kids from my class in with their families, and the lack of concern or attention that the children are getting in some cases makes me want them to know how much I enjoy helping out in their class that much more. I want to be someone that they know cares about what happens to them and wants to hear what they have to say.