kids and comfort levels

So we have a project at kidnet where the children have to record their voices for a two minute audio file where hey talk about themselves with music in the background.  One of the students has a really hard time speaking in front of the mic, and stumbles and gets really shy.  All of the staff and i really tried to get them to do it, but in the end, she just is way too uncomfortable to do it.  It really made me wonder if we should really make her do it or not.  I mean, comfort level is a really vague line and I'm not sure if it's our job as educators to cross that line.

     I know that one of the most important aspects of education is to broaden horizons, and make kids do things they never expected to do.  However, there are also boundaries that we shouldn't cross, ånd some fears must be conquered personally and not within the realm of academics.  I'm just really trying to find that line, because I actually thought that the student shouldn't have been made to record her voice after about an hour of arguing.  She's going to have to conquer her fear at one point, but maybe that day wasn't the day.  I don't know tell me what you guys think:)

getting attached

So after a few weeks of working with these kids, I am getting pretty attached to them, and hopefully they to me as well. It really makes me wonder, when teaching children in an academic setting, how attached should you get? How much is too much? Is it really necessary?

Personally I think a relationship is one of the most important elements of teaching children, especially if you consider yourself a good example. However, I think promoting independence in an academic setting is very important. If you do everything for the child, or the child because too emotionally dependent on you, this is unhealthy and may cause over dependence. I think a perfect balance must be met, to a certain degree you are friends with the children, but first and foremost you are an example and a teacher. It is a job, a function.

However, obviously this is not a clear line. These kids are great, and cute might I add. It's hard to draw a line, it's hard to say no and be the bad guy. I think experience is the only thing that can teach a teacher how much friend and how much mediator and how much mentor they should be.

How old is young?

So at my site, I saw kids watching inappropriate music videos and Family Guy etc., and it got me thinking of whether or not this is okay. At first, my reaction was that this is not okay, because they are kids and they should be innocent.
However, then I thought, if I think that way what makes it okay for me to watch these things? The only difference between me and a child is age, and they are going to be exposed to all this anyway so why not? I mean, it's not idea in my mind, but it's a bit unavoidable.
I wonder if exposure is more beneficial for children than protection? We try to censor things from kids all the time, but we know they always manage to find things out for themselves. Overprotection leads to unhealthy rebellion eventually, because they need to experience things for themselves. So how much protection is okay? How much exposure is okay?