Homebound

It's only day three of my new 'job' and things have already taken a turn for the 'interesting.'

Day 1: The student was mostly silent, but worked.

Day 2: The first hour went well, but then the student had to write a poem. Thirty minutes of passive aggressive silence later, I called it quits.

Day 3: When I arrived, the student said "I'm not going to do anything." I asked him if he wanted me to leave and my only answer was silence and a small shrug. The lack of the answer gave me some hope, so I tried to calmly talk with the student. Mostly, it was me saying something briefly and then pausing for close to a minute for a reaction.

Or it would've been if the student's mom had not started yelling, screaming, and calling what I assume was the boy's father to say "I can't do this anymore! TAKE HIM!"

It felt like I was watching an old battle with the same players all start up. My official responsibility was done at "I'm not going to do anything," but I hung around a little longer out of hope I could make a difference in some manner (call it the "Christian" responsibility).

Unfortunately, I had no clue and still don't.

With all the yelling, I tried to be the calm one. If I had thrown any more fire into the situation it could've blown. I felt more like a clam witness than I was making any difference, though. It could be that both sides were acting out, because I was there. It could be that battles like that are common place in that household. The only thing I could think of left was to excuse myself and hope that took away part of the catalyst.

And that's only what I've typed.

I felt sad for everyone involved. I feel sorry for the kid growing up how he has. I feel sorry for the mom as well, because she must know on some level how bad things have gotten. It would explain why she's so angry in general.

I'm supposed to go back tomorrow, but the mom said to "Call first, because he may not be here!"

We'll see tomorrow.