institutionalized

after school on tuesdays, two of my brighest kids stay for math work.

we never get much work done, but it's such good bonding time.

this week, i heard their stories about how they've both been committed to hospitals, or forced to live in residential facilities.

they were between the ages of 7 and 10. the girl talked about how they had to chain her to the bed because she was so wild.

they swapped stories for about 20 minutes - about the people there, the doctors, what it was like in (literally) "these rooms with nothing but a bed. ms. matthews it was like the movies where they put the crazy people except i was the crazy people." - i just sat and listened - in utter disbelief.