I seem to have been press-ganged into becoming a parent helper on a school trip. I was more than slightly nervous about doing 3 days and 2 nights on a residential environmental education course with 25 children aged 7 to 9. My wife told me that I was only going as an extra pair of hands and eyes to help the trained professionals, and that if I could manage looking after our Asperger's son, this should be a doddle.
In the end I had great fun. Wednesday morning I trolled into school with my son and our bags ready for action.
It was really a bit of an eye opener spending time with some of more disadvantaged kids. Stuff that we do as a family and take for granted was totally alien to these children. I was assigned a group of 6 children of my own and ended up being a lot more than just another pair of hands. It was very rewarding doing some of the team exercises and getting them all working together. I found it very hard work getting 2 groups of 3 to make an environmentally themed short movie. I encouraged them to take on as much as possible. Sounded a great idea but I'm used to assigning tasks and having people just get on with it! The experienced teachers were a lot more prescriptive in defining the theme/structure/roles/processes and a lot more hands on with using the equipment. Their movies were all much higher quality, but my 2 trios had produced their work all by themselves. 4 out of the 6 had a brilliant time and wanted to do it all again.
Getting back to school on Friday I was amazed at the patience of the teachers and how well they managed situations. I was absolutely exhausted, but they looked tired too, so I don't feel too bad.
I think I've been signed up for the physical challanges trip next year. I can't wait.
Kudos to you Dave for volunteering and for recognizing what teachers do to help our kids.
Great job Dave. We should all be like you in helping our children.
Very nice Dave............ the rewards are huge aren't they?