Friday Not a Complete Bust

This Friday afternoon the children of Chesterbrook got a free pass and were granted a “play day” of sorts, where this time they were the ones who chose the activity they participated in.  Our group leader Eddy, had very important personal issues which he had to attend to, but still brought us to Chesterbrook.  Although we didn’t participate in a planned activity with the children, we took the time out to get to know them better.  We sat with the children and basically had one on one conversations with them as they participated in their activity of choice.  This was great.  I got to know several students which I had previously had very vague knowledge on.  They gave me insight on life as a kid, school, other students, and various other topics which they had on their mind.  I feel that I formed a relationship with three of the girls at Chesterbrook.  I know them a lot better and they know me better as well.  This is great.  Although we didn’t have an activity planned for the children, we still gave and received valuable information from one another.  This newly formed bond that we have developed with the children will aid us in future activities allowing us to communicate more freely with the children, while producing better quality activities and discussions.

Comments

[Justified]

Jeff,

From your comments here and Edison's posting, I'm wondering if you would advocate for including a free day into 2+2=5 each semester so that Bentley students have a chance to get to know the children. Or is it impossible to plan for something like this. I'm wondering if these spontaneous moments can't be choreographed.

[Jeff Jacques]

Absolutely! Last Friday’s free day was an excellent idea. I went in expecting and activity but got a free pass. However, my fellow workers and I didn’t want to spend an hour to ourselves, so we decided to spend it with the children anyway. At first we were somewhat hesitant but the children approached us and began conversing with us. They also like the idea of talking to us on a one on one basis because each activity session we hold with the kids’; they ask a bunch of questions concerning a wide range of areas revolving around our lives. They are obviously interested in our life and it is only right that we show interest back into theirs.

[Chris LoDolce]

While reading you'r posting and thinking about how you have bonded with the three girls you mentioned, I just got an idea for a service learning program. Somthing along the lines of a big brother/sister program (for children with out / or lacking a mother or father figure), maybe have it combined with a psychology class. So that the labs would be spending time with your kid (which would fill the lab portion of a natural science course). Then relating that to the class and psychology. This is a quick idea but I think it would be a sweet service learning program or part of another class

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What important is that moments were not wasted as you have choose getting to know each other. That must be something.