Managing meat eaters - Dev's story #SandD2015

Fostering has brought some interesting characters to be part of our family to say the least. One of the hardest things to deal with is having to share pretty much everything e.g PS3 and Xbox, sweets and the TV. There are also many good things like the fact that I get company that is my age because both of my brothers are older than me by six and seven years.

The placements we have had from GLF have been really interesting and at times the children were troublesome. A perfect example of troublesome were the four children we had at once. There was a nine-year-old who at times displayed challenging behaviour and a white hot temper, then there was her sister who was four and turned five in the time she was with us, and lastly the two one-and-a-half-year-old twins (one boy and one girl). Seeing the babies develop and to eventually hear them saying a few words at the end was amazing and quite rewarding too, but not everything in this placement was straight forward or even easy. We had to deal with the oldest sister when she was angry and would sometimes vent her anger on the babies. Then there were the times where we had to explain and re-explain rules to the four-year-old as she would often break them. Lastly the babies, they were just at another level. They would cry, scream and fight and give me a headache. Not only those three factors we also had the pleasant opportunity of changing their nappies. However they were very cute and memorable. In the end they turned out to be one of my favourite placements.

After this placement probably came one of the most challenging placements that I have seen. She was a 15-year-old girl who had very bad behaviour problems. She often went missing or would return home late meaning the police would have to come and take down details etc. This challenging teen loved her TV dramas such as Coronation Street and Eastenders. Missing these would make her furious and instead would watch late night TV programmes which were not appropriate for her age. Meat was something she demanded everyday and she has been one of the only ones who has done these because most of the time the child would respect the fact that we are vegetarian and would instead have meat sometimes but this particular young person didn't and in the end we realised that this person was not suitable for our house and in the end she had to leave. Being a vegetarian means that I really don't like being around meat or even the smell of it makes me feel sick, so the way I deal with this is by trying to avoid going in the kitchen are when their food is being prepared or when they are eating.

These were some of my experiences of fostering and some scenarios of placements at our house. I feel that I am very lucky and appreciative of what I have: a family and home. It feels rewarding to be able to help people who need help and that we are able to be there to help other. But it goes to say that overall I like being part of a foster family because I can learn important life skills such as: how to deal with various difficult situations, how to deal with different types of people and behaviour, how to share things and work as a team.

By Dev, 14

Dev's blog was written as part of our Sons and Daughters Month blogging competition. Find out more about Sons and Daughters Month.