It’s cold here today, and as I sit in my office, I hear one of the girls down hall (none have gotten up and around yet) having a rather nasty cough. It’s one of those coughs that you just know hurts when it comes on. I’m hoping that we can get through this winter without a lot of infection and passing around of bugs, but in a setting like this, even with the Lysol and admonitions to wash hands, things still get around.
It’s kind of that way with attitudes as well. It seems that attitudes are contagious. When someone is in a funk, everyone tends to be a little on guard. If someone has an “I don’t care” attitude, that too seems to get around.
It’s especially noticeable when a new girl moves into the home. The first thing she does, whether she or anyone else notices or not, is measures the general attitudes of everyone including cottage parents. She then tailors her actions and responses to what she sees and finds in the others.
Maintaining a positive attitude is hard in a setting like this, for staff and residents alike. It’s so easy to get caught up in negativity or just rotten attitudes in general. It’s a constant battle for me to stay on top of my attitudes, as well as encourage the girls and others to stay on top of theirs. But the payoffs are tremendous when it all works together to create an environment where everyone, staff and residents, can grow and develop.
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