- my iParenting
- quick clicks
- preteenagers today articles
- preteenagers today q&a
- teenagers today articles
- teenagers today q&a
- message boards
- research baby names
- prepare a birth plan
- content channels
- ip channel rss feeds
- read birth stories
- read parenting stories
- recommended books
- e-newsletters
- safety recalls
- ip diaries
- ip store
- mom of the month
- dad of the month
- editor's letter
- letters to the editor
 |
- e-newsletters
- Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters
- award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
Shouting at the Sky
Troubled Teens and the Promise of the Wild
By Gary Ferguson
If this was your first week in the field, you'd probably be thinking it'd been one hell of a day. Carla had her first try at leading the group on a night hike, laying open a personality that looked something like a cross between Joan Crawford and an aerobics instructor. No one took it well. And then that thing with Brenda. Around midnight she decides to sit in the middle of the road, refuses to walk any more, starts cursing, spitting on us. Says what would really make her happy is if all of us would burn in hell. Before it's over she manages to raise everyone's hackles, even stalwart Jenna and the normally tranquil Nancy, sending them over to staff with teeth and fists clenched, asking if they could "hit her just once. C'mon, just once!" Not surprisingly, when we got to camp, sometime around 1 in the morning, Lisa called a group to talk about it. But instead of telling Brenda what a bitch she was -- and that would have been pure Lisa -- she said only that she understood Brenda's loneliness, that she knew about the anger she felt being here. Tht things would get better. That if she needed to talk . . .
