Hey guys!
I hope all has been well and I apologize for the lack of posts for a while. So recently I started volunteering at an after school program in an elementary school close to my college and at first I was really anxious about the kids and if they would respond well to me. Not to mention, I was doing all of this by myself even though there are other people from my school doing this, I'm just not able to go with them because of my schedule. Anyways, so as I'm driving to the elementary school, I get stuck in the car pick-up line and begin to stress about being late for my first day. Anyways, once I walked in, I realized that the school is really small, population wise, and that everything is shorter to accommodate the height of the students. After finally meeting the person in charge of the after school program, she's really nice and awesome, I discover that I'm going to be helping a junior in high school with a rowdy group of second graders. These second graders are also the largest group of kids in the after school program. It took them a while to quiet down and let her introduce me, but I was really shocked and relieved to discover that they took to me really quickly. They were supposed to be reading when I met them but they all kept calling my name and wanted to show me things in the magazines and books that they were looking at. After like 10 minutes of talking to me and showing me things, some of the kids instantly took to me and didn't leave me alone. When it came time for them to work on their homework, one boy kept trying to hug me because he loved the fuzziness of my jacket. Those kids were so smart and cute that I just couldn't believe that I was initially afraid of whether I would be accepted and liked. They were soon let out to play on the playground and the kids astonished me even more with just how creative and energetic they were. I really had to get going so that I could work on homework back in my dorm, but I just didn't want to leave the kids until they began to leave for home. One girl had found an old scrap piece of paper on the ground and pretended like it was a treasure map and was taking me around the playground in pursuit of a hidden treasure near a bush. I mean I probably had the same type of imagination when I was little, but right now I couldn't fathom just how she truly loved what she was playing. Even the little kids in K-5 took to me even though I wasn't really their "teacher." One cute little boy kept taking me around on the slides and climbing random things because he wanted to show me what he could do.
All in all, I found all of these kids just so entertaining, energetic, happy, and innocent. They weren't mean or deliberately hurtful to any of their fellow classmates and that just amazed me. I love how these kids are able to trust and view everyone as their friend and it really saddens me that these things are going to change once they get to middle school. This is going to sound very Peter Pan-esque but the world would just be so much better if we could view our fellow human beings as our friends even though we look different and come from different backgrounds. Sure things will happen and people will do things that will cause us to dislike people and things but just the way they viewed life was amazing.
I'm so excited to go back to these kids again this coming week even though I have a load of homework and tests to study for. But I feel like working with these kids and easing the workload of the after school workers will be such a better break then watching YouTube and going on Facebook or Tumblr. (Not that I don't find any of these sites bad or a waste of time in anyway.)
What are some things that have made you change the way you look at the world? I hope you all have a great week and enjoy some of the little things that happen to you during your day!
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