Friday, July 10, 2009

(Sigh)

We have a big group of kids who hang out with my friends and I every Wednesday night. We love them. However, most of them come from not-so-ideal home situations. They're loud at times, rowdy, and fairly undisciplined. But they are ridiculously cute and after a few months of seeing us pretty regularly, we've all started to have a lot of fun as our lives have become more intertwined.

Here's how a conversation went with me and one of my favorite kiddos (that's just between you and me ;-) ) before we were to take a bunch of them to see Ice Age in 3D a few days ago.

(Kid hanging on my leg for quite a while)

Me: What's wrong? Are you tired?
Kid: No.
Me: Do you not feel good?
Kid: No. (grips my leg tighter)
Me: Then what's wrong??
Kid: I miss my daddy. (sniffle)
Me: Well, where is he? (stupid question)
Kid: In jail.

Sigh.

What do you say to that? I didn't say anything, just helped her put her seat belt on so we could go see a movie and eat gummy bears together. That dad is missing out.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's happend to me quite a few times with the kiddos I teach. I usually just say, I'm really sorry to hear that. There isn't much you can say. Just being there for them and letting them know they are safe with you means more to them than you know.
-Jenel