Watching a circle of 4- to 5-year-old children sitting with their teacher talking about whatever pops into their heads could make any adult smile. Kids say the darndest things, don’t they?
Sometimes, though, what they say can be painful to hear, as when a girl mentions her father’s drinking or a boy asks if it’s OK for parents to hit their children. You never know where the conversation might go when the children are sitting in a circle at Childhaven, a nonprofit that provides therapeutic care to children who’ve been neglected or abused. But there’s still reason to smile because staff members know how to guide the conversations in ways that help heal childhood wounds. That dynamic is far too rare.
It can be difficult for children whose lives are affected by divorce, parental substance abuse, mental illness in the home, housing instability and other negative factors to conform to expectations when they arrive at school, and schools often respond by throwing them out.
[For more of this story, written by Jerry Large, go to http://www.seattletimes.com/se...at-risk-kids-fit-in/]
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