A Jaded View

Sometimes working in this field makes me worry that I have a jaded view of kids and the way they should act. For example, this morning I was at the elementary school waiting for my client when I saw a boy and a girl (about 4th grade) walking together carrying a milk crate full of library books. My first thought was, "where's the supervision?!" and my second thought " why are the boy and girl allowed to be alone together?". In my line of work, I have seen way too many kids involved in inappropriate behaviors with one another due to lack of supervision, past abuse, lack of parental involvement, etc. These kids have more knowledge about certain things than kids twice their age. It worries me that all I've ever really seen and spent significant time around are kids with emotional problems. I'm unsure what age appropriate behaviors are. I don't think it is bad to err on the stricter side with kids but I also don't want to be crazy about it. I think that in some ways, this field has been good for opening my eyes to the reality of a world outside my upper middle class upbringing, but other times I long for the innocence of my youth.