Looking back over my volunteer days at the Boys and Girls club, I feel a suddenly much more intense respect for the crazy crazy crazy (but good ) people who work there on a daily basis – who work there on a daily basis cheerfully. Those are a fantastic bunch of kids, don’t get me wrong, Ella’s granddaughter hangs out there, after all, but man oh man, some of them need attention so badly that they frighten me for what their home life must be like – either they’re being neglected or their poor parents are neglecting themselves for trying to give these kids the attention they need/demand. It’s not just an ADD/ADHD sort of situation, I’ve grown up alongside those kids, this is a whole ‘notha level of oh-my-goodness-don’t-do-that!
Just as a warning: watch out for little Jeremy! He’s cuter than a broken button parade and doesn’t seem to understand the fact that he is breakable as well.
Hey, look how far back I can twist my head!
I can do that!
Hey, watch me flip!
Hey, watch me do some other freakin’ crazy stunt on a hard, tiled floor in socks!
It’s maddening when all you wanna do is have a good time and suddenly you realize the kid could’ve just brained himself. Oy vey!
On a happier note, the kids actually do listen to you and learn from you whether it seems like it or not. We had multiple kids who, by the end of it, could remember the names and way to do certain Tai Chi and Yoga moves and recognized and got better at some of the gymnastics moves and dances – we actually had kids requesting specific exercises by the end of it and even if they performed it incorrectly every time, it was an educational impression, a confidence builder for both them and myself.
I recall not ever wanting to go there by myself at the start of all this – and now?
Now, knowing the kind of welcome these kids would give me, I’d gladly do whatever I could for them, alone or in a group setting. Save working there on a more permanent basis, of course. I’m sure this affection is one heavily nurtured by the fact that I was able to leave, the same sort most babysitter’s feel for infants, or preteens feel for most relatives.
Be as involved and happy about things as possible, don’t be bogged down if there’s one or two (or, lets face it, five or six) kids who aren’t really paying attention or participating, because the ones who are participating are depending upon your continuance and good attitude to keep them in the game, to help them justify to themselves and their friends to keep in the game. It can be very easy to get frustrated with the levels of disorder and craziness going on with the kids, but that only makes your enthusiasm about some semblance of structure all the more important. Let the harshness and reprimands come from the B&G employee(s) that’ll be there shadowing you – if you become the ones trying to control and enforce then the kids won’t be as excited to see you, after all, you’re not there everyday to be a full role model where those sorts of moments are quickly forgotten, you’re labeled quickly in their minds and I think that our group was very, very good about keeping constantly involved and keeping constant smiles on our faces, even if we were correcting someone or trying to dissuade Jeremy from doing some other crazy thing, we tried to keep light and cheerful about it.
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