Day 12

My experiences at PSP have really shaped my views on education and childcare. I think this was possibly my last week in the Infant/Toddler section, and I will possibly be moving to another area of PSP this coming week. My summer schedule is coming up fast and I will not be able to go in on Mondays any more. However, maybe I could stop in on the weekends or try volunteering somewhere else on the weekends? I will have to think about it some more. Quite possibly, perhaps my time is done at PSP? Although, they do need the help!
Any-who, last Monday was entertaining. I love helping with the kids. They brightened my dark weekend and even during the gloomy weather I found solace. When I arrived, there were babies everywhere again. It is getting more challenging for them because many of the other volunteer's time at PSP is also coming to an end. The college semester is pretty much over and the students do not need any more volunteer hours. Therefore, the volunteer numbers are low. However, since I am just doing this for fun, I have the option to help them.
One thing I tried with two of the infant girls was place them within reach of each other on a play mat. I put toys in front of them and observed how they interacted with the toys and each other. I have noted that I have never seen the babies interact with each other before. The little girls would exchange glances and grab their friend's arm or touch their hair. I thought it was cool that they got to finally be "aware of" their friend. Possibly this early interaction with other babies will instill a positive social implication to their personalities.
After helping the babies find toys to play with and getting the others to sleep, the toddler side was also lacking in volunteers so I went over there because the kids were waking up from their naps. I walk in through the child-secure gate and see one of the toddlers sitting at the snack table and eating his raisins (which obviously must have been today's snack option). He also appeared to be the only one left eating because his daycare-mates were off doing other things. However, I did notice that a small group of kids had surrounded the table. They were watching in careful anticipation for the boy to glance away so they could snatch his raisins. He kept a watchful eye on them and finished his handful of raisins. He turned to the head instructor and did the hand symbol for "More" all while saying, "More, please?" The instructor grabbed another handful and placed it in front of him and the little boy looked away for a second. As soon as the raisins touched the table, all of the kids that had surrounded the diameter of the table lunged forward and grabbed all his snack. The poor boy was wiped clean of raisins within a matter of seconds. All of the instructors, including myself, found this to be very amusing. However, we made sure to give him more raisins along with a high-security body guard to be his bouncer.
The kids are so brutally honest and many of the things they do are so amusing. I do not know what I would do without this kind of joy in my life. I do not know what kind of teacher I want to be, but I do feel that working with children is where I feel most at home.

Day 11

Last Monday, I started out by working with the infants. There were more awake and active infants than there were hands to hold them. I started out by playing with one of the little girls that has been at the shelter for awhile. She was the first baby I got to hold here at PSP and she has grown so much! It's crazy to watch how fast they grow even over only a couple months. Volunteers were limited that day so it was challenging at points when an instructor had to leave and help out the other side. The babies were all over the place: various blankets and pillows on the floor, being held by random instructors, and lounging in various cradle-holders. Almost all of them were awake and looking for games to play and things to do because only a few had succumbed to sleep. The toddler side needed help, however, so I propped a few of the kids up on pillows and blankets with a toy they could play with and went over to the other side to help the toddlers. They were getting ready to head outside, so we gathered up the kids and started maneuvering them out the door to the playground in the front of the building.
One of the girls was not having a great day and only wanted to be held. She had me carry her pretty much the whole time we were outside. I tried offering her the alternative of playing on the jungle gym, but she was not having it. After a while, her mom finally came and picked her up, and she was fairly relieved when she saw her. I also noted that there were quite a few kids who wanted to be held and not interested in playing with their friends. I think it is usually around this time of day when the kids start to get really family-sick and miss their mom and dads.
My favorite part of the day was when one of the little boys I was holding started to get super happy and excited for seemingly no reason. He started waving at someone and I looked over to see what all the commotion was about. His young mom and dad were heading up towards the shelter on their way back from somewhere and he was just really excited to see them. We walked up to the gate and since we recognized his dad, we handed the little boy over to his sweet family.
A lot of close-minded people would criticize a young family for being unprepared and too young, maybe even pulling out the argument of the dad's-gonna-leave situation. I do not think anyone can truly be prepared for a new baby. Whether they are young parents or old parents, you never can be too ready for a baby, money or none. I'm not a parent myself, but I have been around a lot of people who are new parents and they never seem quite ready for the baby no matter what their financial situation may be. However, with some help and guidance from others, they can pull through. It's just important you find people you can trust. In this young family's situation, yeah they may not be in an ideal set-up, but I think all that matters to them right now is the love they have for each other. I feel they can pull out of their situation if they work together. Thoughts anyone?

Day 10

This past week at People Serving People, I had the opportunity to work with the toddlers. I wanted to post about something else I learned after observing the toddlers. On Monday I realized that they learn mostly from each other. These interactions at such a young age with others who are similar in age are great ways for the kids to learn about themselves and the world. The interactions they get to experience in daycare settings I discovered are highly beneficial for them. There are good interactions and negative interactions, but I found that both kinds are helpful for them. 

The kids are so funny to watch during snack time. The rules are that they have to sit with their chair pulled up to the table ("tummy to the table") and that they have to have their feet on the floor. Also, they cannot get up from their spot until they have indicated they are done eating their snack. Creating a comparison, I think the animals that copy each other are called lemmings. These little babies remind me of lemmings because when one of them does something, another one of them has to copy and they go with the group. There may actually be misconceptions about lemmings, but for the sake of comparison, I'll leave the lemming reference. On a related note, I was watching them during snack time to make sure good behavior was being practiced and one of the boys started to push his chair away from the table, nearly 4 feet away from the snack table. I simply told him, "tummy to the table" and he scooted his boot back up to the table. Unfortunately, this was a catalyst for the anti-tummy-to-the-table-rebellion and all turmoil broke loose at the snack table in the toddler room. Almost all of the kids started sliding their chairs away from the table while they were all giggling and making noises at each other. It was humorous to watch, but I knew that order had to be restored. Other instances of repeated and copied behavior include standing on the table, pounding on the table, making loud noises, and other interesting forms of snack time entertainment. It's always fun to see what these kids are going to pull out their hats at a given moment. These lemming behaviors don't always happen during snack time, but I have seen them while they are playing or waking up from naps. One person doing something silly is never enough, according to the little goofballs, they always have to repeat each other. I usually find that one of my mottos in life is "do what you feel" and if they want to all start making animal noises, let their little hearts go and make those animal noises.

While I was there on Monday, we got a call from the security desk about a dad that said he was there to pick up his little toddler. There was some confusion over paperwork because when the mom dropped off her baby earlier that day, she never said that the dad would be picking them up early. The process took about 15 minutes because phone calls had to be made, paperwork had to be opened, and ID's had to be checked in order to hand the kid over to the dad. Nothing truly dramatic came from the situation, but it was nice to know that these instructors are generally concerned enough over the kids that they aren't just going to believe someone when they say they are the dad/mom of a child here at the daycare. They take the time to look into it and make sure the child is safe.