Surprisingly, most of the time, no. It was a lot of glorified babysitting, with some conflict resolution every now and then, and then very rarely actual dangerous stuff. Frustrating, absolutely, because you’re dealing with teenaged boys who have, generally, grown up pretty independently and have a chip on their shoulder. It is a lot of mental stuff; frustration on why you can’t reach one of them, or what you could have done differently in a certain situation, and a lot of emotional availability with basically strangers who absolutely will use it against you when given the chance (not every time, but when they’re mad, 95% of the time it’s gonna get real personal real fast). That’s just how they’ve learned to operate, and you gotta show them a better way. Usually doesn’t stick, but it’s nice when it does.
Surprisingly, most of the time, no. It was a lot of glorified babysitting, with some conflict resolution every now and then, and then very rarely actual dangerous stuff. Frustrating, absolutely, because you’re dealing with teenaged boys who have, generally, grown up pretty independently and have a chip on their shoulder. It is a lot of mental stuff; frustration on why you can’t reach one of them, or what you could have done differently in a certain situation, and a lot of emotional availability with basically strangers who absolutely will use it against you when given the chance (not every time, but when they’re mad, 95% of the time it’s gonna get real personal real fast). That’s just how they’ve learned to operate, and you gotta show them a better way. Usually doesn’t stick, but it’s nice when it does.