The second week that we served at the Lydia Home the
kids decorated Easter baskets on Monday and had an Easter egg hunt. They collected
eggs, with each egg having a number in them to determine the order in which
they drew a prize. The kids were easily distracted by asking to play with my
phone and one girl, Donielle, wanting to see pictures on my phone. Mary and I
had to be completely on our toes because there was a lot of commotion that we
encountered in this week, in multiple ways, which I will discuss next.
On Monday, March 25, I worked in the computer room
with the kids to work on skill-building activities. They were instructed to
work on a lesson and then to play a game that corresponded to that lesson to
help reinforce the concepts they had learned from the lesson. I felt very in
over-my-head due to the fact that the kids were very rowdy and were having a
very tough time staying focused. Aside from this inattention, Mary and I played
the Dr. Seuss matching game and Candyland with the children. Conflict was
especially present through the children’s
over excessive fighting with one another over whose turn it was next and when
one child would accuse another child of cheating. The concept of direct
aggression was used to indicate how the children were wishing bad luck upon
each other, or expressing maledictions. Ridicule was also present through the
children yelling at each other in a variety of ways, including teasing to
extremes. Another example of conflict is present through competition. By each
child fending for himself and wanting to win as opposed to lose, high
self-centeredness was shown by the children, instead of showing sincere concern
and consideration for others.
On Wednesday, March 27, Mary and I played Legos with
a child named Marreck and I helped tutor him on his skill-building book for the
kindergarten level. I noticed he was very productive and willing to work
diligently. His attitude had seemed to change for the better. Maybe this is because
he wanted me to work with him, due to the sort of bond we developed when I was
playing Legos with him. This introduces the important concept of friendship. By
getting to talk to Marreck and interact with him while playing Legos with him,
he seemed to connect with me on a different level, one that indicated
friendship. An opposite-sex friendship was formed, allowing for him to ask
questions about how I lived as a girl in relation to him, by his being a boy.
He asked if Mary was my sister and said “Why are you staring at all of the
boys? Because you like to see them naked?!” Clearly, since he was only at the
kindergarten level, he was exploring these opposite-sex relations, still unsure
about some aspects.
For future interactions, I learned that many
children experience conflict in their own ways, just like adults do, needing
specialized help to solve conflicts they experience. I will display more
patience when helping more children discuss disputes they are having. Since I
want to work with children, this is very important that I realize it takes time
for children to develop the skills necessary to be good communicators,
especially in dealing with conflict. I also realize the sort of friendships
that can be formed between children and between children and young/older
adults. Their young minds are exploring how each person is unique, especially
when it comes to gender. In the future, I will understand this exploration
aspect of children’s minds in terms of gender, by them learning to distinguish
between boy and girl characteristics. This will cause me to just go along with
what they are thinking, rather than by being uncooperative by not understanding
where they are coming from, due to the fact that I will be empathetic to how
children are just getting started cognitively.
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