Conferences

Tonight at parent teacher conferences, I heard some things that surprised me.  The most surprising, and sad, story was of the girl who has been raised by her grandparents because her mother has a serious drug problem.  We were told that mom has had several overdoses and usually ends up in jail.  She now has brain damage and epilepsy, as a result of doing so many hard drugs.  Mom is currently in jail.

This 12 year old girl was also subjected to a nasty divorce/custody battle where dad took her away from grandpa and grandma for a year, without allowing them to see her.  Then, upon the finalization of the divorce, dad handed the girl over to grandma and grandpa and left the state.

This young lady is not blessed with a great deal of intelligence, but she is a sweetheart, is always cheery and is a joy to have in class.  I'm guessing that might be because school is where she is most happy.

Grandma then shared with us that the girl's birthday is soon approaching.  Her golden birthday, at that.  She said that the one thing her granddaughter wished for was a big family birthday party like the ones her friends talk about.  It broke grandma's heart to remind the young lady that she is an only child and that most of her extended family lives out of state.  At that point, I jumped in and asked, "when is her birthday?"  I assured grandma that we would have a party for her at school.  Plans are already in the works.  I spoke with our counselor later about it.  These things can be delicate though with middle school aged kids.  They LOVE attention, but not TOO MUCH attention.  I'm sure it will be great.

The final heartbreak moment of this conference was when grandma confessed that she had dropped out of school in the tenth grade, and that she prays that her granddaughter didn't "inherit this from her," as the young girl is currently struggling in many of her classes.  Before she shared this with us, she paused.  I could tell she was feeling uncomfortable.  After sharing of her dropping out, she confessed, "that was really difficult for me to say."  We comforted her and thanked her for sharing.

There are millions of kids like this in this country.  And millions upon millions more outside this country.  Many of them living in situations far worse than this young lady who has a nice home with her grandparents.  I just read a statistic that said 50% of the world's population is under the age of 30.  Let's help these young people.  Volunteer.  Get involved at church, a youth center, anywhere you can.  Time is quite possibly the most valuable thing you can invest in young people.