I am traveling to Rome next week with, among other people, a rather sensitive (in some ways) 14-year old girl. I am anticipating her being surprised and affected by homeless, beggars, etc. I read some discussion thread on some travel board recently recounting stories about wretched-looking beggars, especially children, in Rome.

How do I prepare her for this? How do I help her understand why we won’t be giving money to every one of them? (If any….advice?)

She’s not a total stranger to this, having been in New York, Chicago and San Francisco, but I’m thinking this will be different. Not like when my son David went to India, of course…but different than downtown Fort Wayne. Thoughts?