Saturday Sitters

To get away from my typical Tuesday & Thursday postings I thought for this blog I would discuss what I like to call "Saturday Sitters." On a few Saturdays of my Lydia Home experience Clare & I spent time watching three of the children. Nehemiah who is five, Amaya who is four, & Rashad who is three. Here's how it went!

The children's mom works many long hours & had to put in time on Saturdays, so Clare & I offered to use some of our volunteer time to watch her three kids. On Saturday we spent six hours watching the kids & managed to do everything from napping to going outside.

When we first got there the kids were kind of upset that their mom had to go to work, but were also excited to spend the day with us. After throwing out a couple options of what to do the kids decided we should play house. All three of them loved acting like babies & having Clare & I take care of them. They had forgotten their mom had left in no time at all.

After that since the weather was decent outside we decided to take them to play in the grass to burn off some energy. We played tag & pushed them on the swings. But we soon figured out that with two swings & three children that became a game that was fought over. They all wanted to swing and they all wanted our attention so it was all about balancing.

After playing outside they were all pretty warn out so we decided to have some quiet time. We gave them a small snack & then all of us layed on the floor & Clare & I read the kids stories until all three were asleep. Had we not been responsible for the children Clare & I could have easily napped along with them.

Overall a very successful day. Their mom returned & we said goodbye. With another great experience under our belts we returned home to our own beds-kids sure can wear you out.

To relate back to class here are some concepts that came to light during Saturday sitting. Listening was a major influence on Saturday. With only Clare & I & then three kids who have everything to tell you all at once we experienced a few types of listening. Appreciative listening occurred when the kids were telling us things that make us laugh that pretty much make no sense at all. Empathetic listening occurred when the kids swore that they had "boo boos" & needed consoling.

Another concept we experienced was conflict, mainly in the form of competition. Throughout the day the kids were constantly competing for our attention & this was something that Clare & I had to balance out & deal with. We had to maintain a happy atmosphere between all three kids at all times, this proved to be quite a challenge. But overall I'd say we did a good job & had a successful day.

I learned that avoiding that conflict is hard based on the group surrounding you. Also that you can't always make everyone happy, but that you can compromise to focus the attention on something that may not be originally desired, but is still desirable. Overall a great learning experience & another great opportunity to spend time with the kids. Until next time!