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I wish the days were less eventful ...
If only the incidents occurred one at a time ...
Had I had some time to think what to do ...
— From the wonderings of a child-care worker
These and similar wonderings are perhaps universal in
the experience of being a child or youth care worker. A day without
overlapping "incidents" — would that he child or youth care work? When
on the job one has to act, to reply to each situation while it is still
happening. Also, one is immersed in the continuous flow of happenings
without control over their timing or sequence.
“Immediacy”, the concept we use to capture the realm of occurrences in
residential group care as well as their rhythm and timing, includes the
experiencing of a situation, becoming aware of its effect on oneself,
and acting while it is occurring, as part of the flow of events. It is
acting on an incident and knowing that as soon as it is over or most
probably even before it is, another incident will follow, yet not
knowing what that one will be like.
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— EDNA GUTTMANN
Guttmann, E. (1991). Immediacy in
child and youth care: the fusion of experience, self-consciousness and
action. In Beker, J. and Eisikovits, Z. (Eds.) Knowledge utilization in
residential child and youth care practice. Washington: Child Welfare
League of America. pp. 65–82
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