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.
