In school, they are discouraged from hitting each other, encouraged to talk through an argument, negotiate, and yet they haven't fully accepted this, and can continue to use force against each other as a way of disciplining. They love their parents, describe them as good parents. When they grow up they say they want to marry and have children and live in a house with a trailer in the yard, so that they can travel if they wish. They were like children everywhere - open, friendly, loving, wanting to believe the best in people. Talking to a group of young teenage children in St Declan's Junior Training Centre Milltown, one gets a similar strong sense of their identity as Travellers.
Conversation is full of allusions to brothers, sisters, parents, cousins, and extended family.
Country people,' they call them, 'rich people,' people from whom they already have a sense of alienation. This arises partly because they say they are regarded as a group, rather than individuals. They cite examples of being banned from shops and cinemas, say that owners can kick and ill-treat them for breaking this ban, even though they have done no wrong. As with the younger group, family roles and chores separate out on gender lines. The girls say they're expected to mind the house or trailer, clean up, and baby-sit.