Working with kids affords the most candid and sincere dialogues. My thirteen year old male client and I were talking about what he would like to do in the future. I often talk about the future with my clients because they need hope that there exist opportunities beyond what their backgrounds dictate. Most of my clients come from low-income, single parent families. Some of their fathers are in jail or on probation, some have never met their fathers, some of their older siblings are trying to stay out of jail.

So my client and I are discussing his future when he declares loudly,
"Miss, I wanna be a man."
I'm confused by what he's saying. "What do you mean, 'You wanna be a man'?"
"Miss, I wanna have my own garage."
I'm thinking maybe he means having his own house, which would mean having his own garage. "That would be nice, to have your own garage".
"Yeah, it would be, I want my own garage".
"What would you do with it?"
"I would make low-riders for Mexicans".
At this point I think that he could be on the verge of discriminating against all the other ethnicities (like he's even thinking this) so I say, "Don't you think you could make low-riders for other people too, besides Mexicans."
"Miss, have you ever seen any other people who like low-riders?"
I didn't really have a response for that. Although come to think of it, my brother-in-law had a low rider truck while he was in college and he's not mexican.

I do hope one day that my client will have the opportunity to work at something he really enjoys, and that one day he will have his own garage.