Someone once said that it takes a village to raise a child.
These days, more than a village is involved. We have federal and provincial government programs dedicated to the well-being of
children.
Unfortunately, children living on the
Prairies have a problem. Most of the programs for young people focus on adolescents who live in larger, urban centres. Young people
living in the country tend to be left out.
This is a problem that the government of Manitoba has addressed. It is sponsoring a Youth Corner website (located at www.
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ruralstress.ca/youth) as a part of its general farm stress line.
The website invites all young people who live in the country to make contact with it. The intent is to give rural youth something that is uniquely theirs, something that will address issues and concerns puzzling young people living in the country, and something that is available and accessible to all of them.
I do not think that kids in the country are necessarily different from kids in the city, but rural young people undoubtedly deal with issues that do not challenge their city cousins. The biggest difference is the familiarity that rural people share with each other. This is both an asset and a potential problem.
Kids in the country often know each other better than their counterparts in the city do, and because of that, they can jump in with assistance when one of them runs into problems at home, or at school, or perhaps even on the ball team.
The familiarity develops because fewer kids live in the country. They attend smaller schools and sit in classes with fewer students. But those small numbers can also cause problems. They mean that the young people at times depend on each other too much, and that precludes the opportunity for each to pursue his or her own peculiar interests.
For example, not all the players on the hockey team may want to be there. But if they do not join the team, chances are that the team will fold, and that would cost them the friendship of those other kids who want to play.
This is huge pressure for a young person. Either he plays hockey, which he does not want to do, or he is at risk of losing friends, which he or she does not want to happen. It is stressful.
One would hope that young people caught in this predicament would feel free to make contact with the Youth Corner and talk their situation through with someone on-line.
I do not think that today’s youth work as hard on the farm as their parents did. But they share in the farm stress. They know that too many sunny days in a row bring fears of another drought, and they carry those fears every bit as much as their parents do.
The problem is that they often do not have anyone to whom they can talk about their fears.
Hopefully they will make contact with the Youth Corner and find someone there with whom they can talk, and develop for themselves a perspective on their concerns.
Jacklin Andrews is a family counsellor, living and working in west-central Saskatchewan who has taught social work for two universities. Mail correspondence in care of Western Producer, Box 2500, Saskatoon, Sask., S7K 2C4 or e-mail jandrews@producer.com.
