Child's Play
Today was my first real day volunteering on the floor of the Children's Museum of DuPage. When they ask you to work on the floor, they mean literally. After all, you can hardly build blocks with little kids whilst standing up.
The problem for me, is many of the staff don't seem much older than the children. They are either school kids themselves, or fresh out of college. Maybe I have just got to that age where everyone seems younger than me.
Anyway, today's session did not begin well. Being English, I like to see myself in kind of Mary Poppins role - where little children will gravitate towards me just to hear my voice. At least that's what the adults here do.
The first two I spotted were trying to poke white plastic rectangles into a board to create a ramp for balls to run down.
"I see you are poking white plastic rectangles into a board to create a ramp." I said. We'd been trained to state what the child was doing as an act of affirmation or irritation, not sure which.
The child continued to work, totally ignoring me.
A young woman, I think his Eastern European nanny, bounded over.
"No, no," she told him. "That's not how you do it. You must do this. It will never roll down."
We had been told that children must learn for themselves, but anxious not to start an international incident, I ignored her.
In the end she pulled her young charges away, leaving me to play alone, which was, after all, what I wanted.
Upstairs I had much more fun engaging with some adorable American kids - you know the ones you see on sit coms. They were happy to chat with me. John Francis explained he was building a house out of blocks without a roof because his family liked to get wet! Four year twins Natalie and Melita seemed positively delighted with my stupidity that I wouldn't realise they were the same age and shared the same birthday.
I met some pretty cool grown-ups too. One grandmother told me all the details of her 70th birthday party at the weekend. American families tend to be spread all over the country, so it was a real treat for her that they would all be joining her in her back yard. As with all U.S. women I have met, you can take no one at face value. This lady was a former psychiatric nurse, who in her retirement became a chaplain and now counsels oncology patients.
Not a bad way to spend a morning. If nothing else, it keeps you young.
The problem for me, is many of the staff don't seem much older than the children. They are either school kids themselves, or fresh out of college. Maybe I have just got to that age where everyone seems younger than me.
Anyway, today's session did not begin well. Being English, I like to see myself in kind of Mary Poppins role - where little children will gravitate towards me just to hear my voice. At least that's what the adults here do.
The first two I spotted were trying to poke white plastic rectangles into a board to create a ramp for balls to run down.
"I see you are poking white plastic rectangles into a board to create a ramp." I said. We'd been trained to state what the child was doing as an act of affirmation or irritation, not sure which.
The child continued to work, totally ignoring me.
A young woman, I think his Eastern European nanny, bounded over.
"No, no," she told him. "That's not how you do it. You must do this. It will never roll down."
We had been told that children must learn for themselves, but anxious not to start an international incident, I ignored her.
In the end she pulled her young charges away, leaving me to play alone, which was, after all, what I wanted.
Upstairs I had much more fun engaging with some adorable American kids - you know the ones you see on sit coms. They were happy to chat with me. John Francis explained he was building a house out of blocks without a roof because his family liked to get wet! Four year twins Natalie and Melita seemed positively delighted with my stupidity that I wouldn't realise they were the same age and shared the same birthday.
I met some pretty cool grown-ups too. One grandmother told me all the details of her 70th birthday party at the weekend. American families tend to be spread all over the country, so it was a real treat for her that they would all be joining her in her back yard. As with all U.S. women I have met, you can take no one at face value. This lady was a former psychiatric nurse, who in her retirement became a chaplain and now counsels oncology patients.
Not a bad way to spend a morning. If nothing else, it keeps you young.
posted by Hilary at
11:47 AM
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