When I signed up to volunteer at the church “nursery” I thought I would be babysitting infants for an hour and a half every other Sunday. Cute little babies to goo-goo and ga-ga with danced in my head.
Little did I know I would be following a curriculum to teach two-year-olds about the Bible by telling Bible stories, creating a craft for the child to take home, trying to organize snack time for 15 toddlers, changing dirty underwear, and chasing kids around the indoor play-ground. Whew! I’m exhausted just talking about it.
Feeling a bit overwhelmed, the first Sunday came for my teaching partner (Karen D) and I to observe the class and get a feel for what we’d be dealing with. By the time the class was over, I was thinking it was too bad I’d already signed a commitment to serve through the summer. It was craziness!
There were probably thousands of thoughts that ran through my head during that hour. One of which was, “Oh my gosh…two-year-olds know how to talk?” I know, it sounds stupid, but really, I didn’t know they could do so much. I thought they were still in the crawling stages. Little did I know… they are far from crawling.
They talk, they eat, they throw, they scream, they poop on their own (for the most part), they have little imaginations, they build, they listen, they argue, they tattle, they color, they glue (and don’t eat it!), they cuddle, and they love.
After three weeks of teaching little twos, I’ve learned that I love it. I really thought I’d be pulling my hair out, but I’m not. Even after cleaning up pee that didn’t quite make it in the pot, or wiping snotty noses, or holding crying girls, or getting up early on Sunday to make the craft for the class, or telling little boys not to throw things at people’s heads a ba-gillian times, I thought I’d be running out the door screaming. But I still love it.
Next week is my first Sunday off in three weeks. While it’ll be nice, I’ll still miss the little guys until it’s my turn again.
7 comments:
I like it, too. Whenever we just had a few left at the end of class, I thought... this would be fun (to parent). Granted, I'm sure 24-7 is much harder than two hours every other Sunday. :-)
I've heard nursery work is supposed to be good birth control. Not so for me, at least not at this stage of my life. This age is fun... they do say "terrible twos," but I think it is neat to see them developing their own personalities.
Even our very few "trouble" kids have great moments. Like when Viktor learned to share by letting Teddy play with the balloon (who then busted it, and Viktor cried). Even Teddy warmed my heart when he said bye to everyone at the end. And when Keaton had a GOOD day yesterday... and when Sage argues, her little "No way!" is still pretty cute.
I think I will miss them next week, too.
Maybe we'll make good Mommies after all. :)
you guys will be GREAT mommies. And two IS a fun age. They are their own little person at this point and it is pretty adorable to watc them learn something new every moment of every day!
ANd as a mom of a two--thank you from the bottom eof my heart for volunteering your time and energy to let people like me have a few hours of uninterrupted worship and fellowship with adults! You are my heroes!
I watched 1-year-olds a few weeks ago, and a few were pretty well along. They could all walk (run wildly), all but one could talk, and a couple knew their colors, which I thought was pretty impressive. Still lots of diaper changes, though. And I found that the ultimate distraction is bubbles. They love 'em!
One thing you notice about little kids is that they are very self-centered. Me, me, me! Mine, mine, mine!
As I listened to myself interact with the kids, however, I realized that we stroke their little egos all the time.
Good job for finishing that puzzle! Good job for going poopy in the potty! You are so smart. You are so pretty, etc.
I mean, we praise their every action. While I think it's good to encourage and build up these little ones, do you think we enable the whole me syndrome? Just thoughts...
It's probably part of it. But there's a balance, eventually. Good parents find a way to tell their children that the world doesn't revolve around them.
Some parents have their children start to volunteer at a young age, like the Zakharys for instance. Those girls are volunteering everyhwere!
While we're stroking their little egos, we're still teaching them how to share with other kids when they're playing with toys or using materials to make a craft. So I don't think it's completely damaging to give compliments on a job well done. Not that I have kids yet or anything...but that's my practice response for when I do have kids. :)
I read an article recently that talked about the importance of praising kids for good character and choices, which encourages positive behavior, rather than praising traits that are outside of that child's control.
For instance, "You're so pretty!" or "You're so smart!" are out.
"I love how you are sharing with your friend!" or "You really stuck with that puzzle till you finished it!" are better choices.
Post a Comment