Opinion: Why teens bite the hand that feeds them

Unfortunately, if we are honest with ourselves, at least some of the young people with whom we work do just that. We are often reluctant to admit this, for it is also an admission that we may have crossed the boundaries of professionalism in extending generosity or hospitality to those young people in their time of need. Yet my guess is that there are few youth workers who have not gone that extra mile at some point: and some will have had their toes crushed and fingers bitten.

I once wrote an article about lending money to young people that invited considerable controversy. But sometimes kids are desperately short of relatively small amounts of money and we give them a helping hand. When I wrote the article in the early 1990s, I was quite truthful in saying that every penny had eventually been repaid. I cannot say that any more, for there have been one or two who have reneged on their commitment. More pertinent are the much more frequent moments when young people let you down, fail to honour their commitments, cause damage or create difficulty - against the very people and places that are meant to be there to help them.