Day 6

Upon entering the daycare, I realized the infant side did not need my help because there were about four volunteers already over there. I proceeded to walk over to the toddler side. Most of the kids were either napping or quietly listening to a book being read to them. The little cots in which they take their naps were randomly placed throughout the room. I started out by reading to the ones who were awake. They jumped onto my lap almost automatically and even though they were not always paying attention to the story, they were definitely enjoying having someone pay attention to them. I felt that maybe it was the physical contact that was the important part of listening to an instructor or volunteer read to them. Whether they are sitting on your lap and looking on with you or they put their hand on your leg or arm during the story, I think they are trying to let us know that they are there. One by one the kids were slowly waking up. They would venture over and listen to the stories or they would start bringing out their toys. One of the little girls woke up from her nap and started crying. She looked up at me and reached out her hands. I picked her up and held her as she cried into my shoulder. It was so very sweet and all you can do is just hope that she feels better and can stop crying.
Sometimes while volunteering, I take a moment and look around at all of the babies and toddlers with whom I am working. I look at their adorable and chubby-cheeked faces, their tiny hands, and take note of their waddle when they try to walk. These babies are just like any other babies in the world. They are learning to talk, walk, read, play, share and even just be a little person in society. However, they were born into a different life-style than most other children. These kids are born into this world with hardly anything going for them. The positive thing they have going on in their lives are great caretakers, whether it be parents or their daycare instructors, and a roof over their head as long as they are here at PSP. On the other hand, these kids are born into a challenging lifestyle. They may not get the best education or have nice things growing up. They may also never get the same opportunities  other kids their age are going to get later on in life. It is so heartbreaking, but all I can do is be there for them. They need that emotional and physical connection with their daycare instructors or they could be the ones who slip through the cracks when they get older. 
Having a background in education is really helping me get through the mental barriers and challenges I have when watching these kids. An understanding of how education works gives me the knowledge and preparedness of how to handle communication with the children or doing activities. I have learned that hands-on experiences are the ones they are really going to learn from the most. Stimulating questions that really get their minds going (if they can talk or are learning how to speak). Even teaching them how to play fair and respect their friends is good background knowledge to have when working with them. 
My absolute favorite part of the day was when one of the instructors took down a bucket with a bunch of costumes in it. The kids were grabbing out their favorite animals and asking us to help them put it on. The toddler side turned into a zoo! The kids were running around in lion, giraffe, and dinosaur costumes. This aspect of using their imagination and being something else other than themselves for a little bit was very fun to watch. 
The final thought from this past Monday's experience was bringing back a question I had asked in one of my recent blog postings. It was on Day 4 near the end of the post. I had asked the question: "One point I feel that needs to be brought up from this past Monday after watching the babies, toddlers, and instructors interact is about comfort levels and boundaries. What is the comfort level that we can have with these kids?"
I asked for the opinions of a few different people who were also education majors and I got a varied amount of responses. Some said that if that was their kid, they wouldn't want their baby's daycare provider acting basically like the mom. For example, giving kisses, lots of hugs, or saying "I love you". Others said that maybe the reason that would be okay is because since this is a homeless shelter, (and the family situations may be a little less than ideal) these kids might not get a whole lot of love and attention when back with their families due to a number of possible circumstances. I just found these thoughts interesting and helpful.

Day 5

When I first started here at PSP, I had to do an orientation as you can see when/if you read Day 1. While they were training us on the Early Childhood Development portion, the SBS and SIDS training video did not work. So this past Monday I finally got to watch those informational videos. The training for these situations took a while, but I found it worth the interruption in my time hanging with the babies. If you are a parent or caretaker of an infant, you have to be so careful about shaking them. SBS, or Shaken Baby Syndrome, occurs when a baby is violently shaken back and forth. I know what you are thinking: "I would never 'violently shake' a baby." Unfortunately, it happens more than you think. If you are a parent, you may understand where I am coming from when I say this, but babies can sometimes cry a lot. Sometimes you have tried everything, but nothing seems to comfort the poor child. The video then talked about how some caretakers or parents will become so aggravated that they will shake the baby back and forth to try and silence them. It sounds horrible, but it is reality. The damage done to the neck and brain is usually irreparable. However, the video was helpful because it told us ways to prevent these things from happening. If the crying is too much, make sure the child's basic needs are met and place them in a safe place (like a crib) and feel free to walk away for a little while. The lady in the video said, "It's okay for the child to cry."
Another common fatality among infants is SIDS, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. This happens usually when the child is sleeping and the doctors do not really know the cause of it. It's more common among babies that are under 2 years of age. The challenge for this is because it is unpredictable and unpreventable. Learning about these two common situations that happen with infants I found to be very helpful. Not only as a volunteer, but as a future parent. 
While I was doing my usual routine and working with the babies, I noticed that there were two new kids in the group. I don't think we've had the same group of kids twice yet. The littlest one is always there, and one of the little boys keeps coming back, but there are always new kids coming and going. What made me most sad was when I learned the little twin boys were not at the shelter anymore. Families coming and going primarily happens due to the fact that the families that stay at PSP are moving on to something else. Maybe they could not get their application renewed with the county or maybe they are moving on to bigger and better things because they finally got their feet on the ground again. I asked one of the instructors if she also finds it sad when one of the babies leaves the shelter, and instead of hearing a more hopeful statement, she says, "Well not really, because through my experiences here, I have noticed that they usually come back anyways." As a volunteer, I do not get the pleasure of knowing the families more, but I noticed that the full-time instructors really know what's going on around this place. I found what she said fascinating and at the same time heartbreaking. It's too bad that these families get stuck in the same cycle over and over again.

Day 4

This weeks's PSP experience was a little different than the usual Monday afternoon infant child care. The first problem that I encountered was that I ended up being a half hour late for my two hour session because the city bus was running really behind schedule. I guess next time I will have to leave earlier. When I finally arrived, the instructors already had a volunteer on the infant side so I went over to help out in the toddler section. Their ages ranged around 2 and 3. One thing that is good to know about toddlers is that they are more cognitively developed than infants so one who is in charge of care taking them needs to be more engaging with them. They will lose interest faster and know how to use their emotions to get the different things they want or need. 
As I stepped through the enclosed gate to go inside of the toddler area, two of the little girls stopped what they were doing and walked over to me to stare up at me. I am not going to lie, it was a little awkward and uncomfortable to be out of the comfort zone I call the "infant side". After all the kids became adjusted to the idea of me watching over them, they warmed up to me and one of the little girls asked me to read her a story. I sat down in one of the rocking chairs and pulled her up on my lap. She listened attentively to the book about spiders and while we were doing that, the other instructors were setting up the main table for the upcoming shaving cream activity. More like the impending doom shaving cream activity if you ask me.
After we finished reading, I went over and helped the other instructors put on the little red smocks that was supposed to prevent the shaving cream from getting on their clothes. It didn't help. Once all of the kids were suited up, we seated them each in a chair around the table. The kids had a blob of shaving cream in front of them which was in the shape of the first letter of each of their names. They stared at the tempting pile of fluff for about two minutes deciding whether their instructors were actually encouraging them to make a mess or if it was a test. The head instructor made a blob for herself and smacked her hand into it and started to smoosh it around. The kids caught on to the idea and eventually the whole table was white with a clean-smelling shaving cream. Of course all good things must come to an end, so when one of the little girl's face and arms were covered in the white shaving cream, we realized it was time to start cleaning them up. All we could see left of her face was two circles around her eyes and she had even eaten some of it because we realized it was just sitting there in her mouth. The head instructor made her spit it out and the process for cleaning her up was a struggle. 
Then as if my prayers were answered, I got called over to help out on the infant side again because the other volunteer who had been there earlier had to leave. Even though I would not have minded helping out, I was totally okay with dipping out on the cleaning-up portion of the shaving cream activity. I was directed to play with one of the girls who I had never met before. Surprisingly, I realized that almost all of the kids in the room were new except for the one boy I had held the week before. I did not get the chance to ask why there was a new group of kids, but I figured that possibly these ones were just absent from the two weeks before. There has to be about a little over 10 kids involved in the infant child care program, then. However, there could be more. 
The second half of my volunteering time was just about as interesting as the first. As I was playing with the little girl, I started to smell a very foul odor. I looked at the girl and thought maybe I had not noticed it at first, but maybe she has a smell to her. I do not have "mommy instincts" necessarily hardwired into my programming yet, so I was not really sure of the source. After a while, the stench became too much to bear and so I took a glance down at her pants, which of course showed evidence of a "blow out". If you have never heard of a blow out, this is where the "nasty-nasty" (for use of a "better" word) kind of explodes from the diaper. I am so sorry if this is TMI, but I honestly was a little traumatized myself and felt the need to share because I am working with babies. I'm honestly surprised this is the first time it's happened. I immediately sent her off with one of the instructors and they told me to hold one of the other babies. The next one I held was already sleeping so I just continued to rock her until she woke up. After about a half hour, she opened her eyes very slowly and looked up at me. I smiled at her and she smiled right back. This is probably my most favorite part in working with infants. I proceeded to talk to her and make her smile with the random stuff I was saying because I was trying to engage her more through her expressions. This is what I feel we actually should be doing with them instead of just trying to get them to stop crying and then let them be until they start up the crocodile tears once again.
One point I feel that needs to be brought up from this past Monday after watching the babies, toddlers, and instructors interact is about comfort levels and boundaries. What is the comfort level that we can have with these kids? I understand that there is love for the children from the instructors after working with the same kids for so long, but I am just curious as to what do the parents want for their children, and how can we as instructors show love without it being too much.

Day 3

Monday's volunteer experience was just as great as the first. I have really been enjoying my time here and I am so happy that I have been able to impact the lives of these little ones. During this last one, my main job was to hold one of the little boys. All of the kids (except for the littlest one) were very sick and they all had runny noses and coughs. The one I was holding was sick, too and I got to hold him while he was drinking his bottle. While this was going on, there was a mom in the room nursing with the youngest baby. I was told that the littlest one has trouble drinking out of a bottle, so her mom needs to come in to nurse her in the afternoons. There was also one other woman in the room who I did not recognize and she seemed to be a nurse or a clinician of some sort. The nurse was asking the mom questions while she was nursing and although I couldn't hear what she was asking her, it was most likely about helping the new mom care for her baby.
The one I was holding fell asleep in a funny position on my lap and it was adorable. He was laying on my lap, but he was tummy up with his head on the top of my knees and had his legs near my stomach. He fell asleep while looking at the decorative ceiling lights. He woke up really startled at one point and looked around, but then fell immediately back to sleep. One of the twins was sitting in the corner of the play area in between a cabinet and the corner of the wall. He looked comfortable, but he was watching us and playing with the toy he brought with him. There weren't as many babies there this time as there were last time because I think that since it was President's day, the parents did not think that the daycare was open. 
Snack time is my favorite time to watch the babies because they all sit in the special table in their seats lined up next to each other. The instructor will put food in front of them and they will eat theirs and even snatch some from their friend next to them. The instructor will read them books and also give them each a toy to play with, but most of them just end up throwing it on the floor anyways. I feel like the goal of this place is to have content babies, not necessarily to educate them, but more to make sure none of them are crying. I have never truly experienced raising a baby so I have no idea about the different ways they can be educated at this age. It's just an observation I made from last Monday. Should we be doing more than just trying to keep them from crying and staying distracted until they get picked up?

Day 2

Last Monday was my first official day at PSP with the infants. After checking in with the security guard, I was directed to the infant and toddler room. As I entered the room, I was quickly introduced to the full-time staff that works in the room while I looked around at my surroundings. There were two babies about one year old sleeping in the cribs, and there were about three other babies about the same age playing with toys in the play area. There were two very little babies around the age of maybe five months old laying on pillows and crawling around, exploring. Two of the little boys were twins and easily distinguishable through their haircuts. The toddler side was blocked off by shelving units and blankets so that the two sides were separated clearly. The introductions were quick, but after I washed my hands in a nearby bathroom, I asked them where they wanted me to be placed. They told me that I could help out with the infants today. 
Upon entering the sectioned off play area, I was instructed to hold one of the babies that had been crying for a while to calm her down. She was the youngest of all the infants and she had big brown eyes with thick black curly hair. After picking her up, she immediately stopped crying. I sat in the rocking chair with her for over an hour and a half, periodically standing up to walk her around the room and show her things. As I was sitting in the chair, I looked around at the other children in the room. There were five African American children, one Caucasian boy, and one Hispanic girl. One of the instructors was putting the kids down for a nap one by one. Nap-time would be too difficult to get them all down at the same time because most of them need to be held and rocked in order to fall asleep. As she was doing that, the other full-time instructor was changing random diapers and taking notes on the babies. The notes she is taking concerns when they ate, napped, and got a diaper change or even notes for things that might seem odd, but mostly just anything that seems worth it to inform the parents when they pick them up. 
The rockers we were using were brand new and recently donated. One thing I observed is that a lot of the clothing they are wearing is noticeably older and probably given to these children through hand-me-downs. It was comforting to hold this baby and know that I could keep her from crying, though. I was only there for two hours, but about halfway through, the instructor who was always taking notes picked up all of the kids and put them in this half-circle table where they can all sit in special seats in the table facing the instructor. The little ones were given a snack and then entertained until the parents came while they sat at the table. All of them seem to get along really well and the only one that was showing any aggressive behaviors was one of the little boys. He would pull on the instructor’s hair while he sat on her lap. Around 4:00pm, the parents started to come and pick up their children. It was nice to see the parent’s smiling faces when their baby recognized them and ran over to them in their waddling gaits. 

Day 1

My name is Angela and I am a student at the University of St. Thomas. I am in my junior year and currently study elementary education and have a double major in science and math for elementary education with a specialty in physics. My plans for the future include hopefully incorporating non-profit organizations/shelters with some sort of teaching. I work three jobs, but among them I work for the University of St. Thomas in the office of Service-Learning and Civic Engagement. Our main job is to connect students with service-learning opportunities and community partners. Through working here I have been exposed to many different organizations throughout the twin cities that work together to make the world a better place. It really inspired me and created a desire within myself to help, too. 
Last December, our office held a toy and warm clothing drive for a family-friendly homeless shelter in downtown Minneapolis called People Serving People. As we were dropping off the donations, I looked around the reception area and looked at the different faces in the main foyer. I saw elderly adults, young adults, small children running around, infants, a security guard, and people working at the front desk. We handed over the donations, and I do not know if I just have a soft spot in my heart for all toddlers, but one little girl running by looked up at me. I smiled at her. At that moment, something that I might call a passion started to form inside of me. I knew I needed to start volunteering here. I filled out my application a couple weeks later and I had my first orientation session just this past Monday. 
Upon checking in with security, three other volunteers and myself waited in the front entryway until the volunteer coordinator came to give us a tour. He was a friendly man who was excited to have us there. Some of the places we got to see were the cafeteria, classrooms for toddlers and infants, PreK, and older, a sample room, career center, library, and family lounge. The volunteer coordinator said that they receive many donations every day and they work with multiple community partners who help them be provided with the stuff they need everyday. There are many opportunities for volunteering options here. Everything from library attendant to meal server to early childhood helper is what is available for volunteers. 
After the tour, we watched an orientation video about a little girl who tells us what it’s like to be a child living in a homeless shelter. One thing that stuck out to me is how she doesn’t consider herself homeless. She isn’t sitting out on the streets with her family begging for money, she is living in a welcoming place where her family has a roof over their head and a place to sleep every night. We filled out a lot of paperwork and then we received our ECDP training so we could work with the little ones. I chose to work with the toddlers and infants. My coworker just reminded me that I will probably be getting sick often if I am working with the children. It was a short orientation, but I feel that next week is when they will be showing me how to do my job in more detail.