Fostering brings all sorts of things into one's life. I sometimes wonder what people who don't foster actually do with themselves.
It's not only the little jobs that multiply, it's the brain-work of trying to understand the significance of the little things in the life of your foster child.
The child I'm thinking about this time is our youngest placement, who has a thing about "Frozen".
Why would a child from a down-and-out mundane chaotic family be entranced - captivated in fact - by a tale about royalty and magic?
So; "Frozen" is a Disney cartoon film. A fairy story about two sister princesses with magic powers. Their parents die at sea. The eldest sister is crowned Queen. At the coronation the younger sister falls in love with a guest, a Prince. The older sister is jealous and retreats to a castle in the icy waste, but casts an accidental spell on her realm, plunging the whole nation into an eternal Winter of snow and ice. The younger sister, aided by her Prince, is tasked with finding the older sister and undoing the spell.
Right? Wanna get your head round why our foster child watches this every afternoon after school? And all weekend. "Frozen" is on our backroom telly almost every day, almost all the time.
Why?
It's a good movie; the animation and the voice performers are top drawer. Successful? It's up there with the highest grossing movies of all time.
But the question stays the same. Why does a damaged child from an emotionally impoverished and dispersed family, who is in my care, watch "Frozen" at every available moment?
The child will plomp on the sofa, our dog will join. Child will snag a biscuit and a box of juice, find the remote wherever it's hiding, and get "Frozen" up on screen. Child doesn't even need to reel it back to the beginning, just presses 'Play" and watches wherever it kicks in.
I talked about the "Frozen" infatuation with our Blue Sky social worker.
In fostering, if you have the stamina, every little titbit helps with your picture of the child, and what to do to help them.
"Frozen" is about a chaotic family that breaks into bits. One of the kids tries to fix things.
Life is bleak and the fixer is trying to bring sunshine.
We think that fractured families are a modern day thing. But 'Frozen' touches a nerve all over the world.
The story of "Frozen", all about a damaged family, but tarted up as about royalty and magic, was written two hundred years ago. Hans Christian Anderson.
Befgore there was organised fostering.
Makes you think
0 comments:
Post a Comment