Final Session

The boys and girls club was fun and exciting. The kids loved us and loved to see what new activities we had in store for them. I think our sessions went well overall. We carefully planned out each activity but of course nothing went as planned. I felt like some of the kids started understanding what it meant to work as a team but others still had trouble with the concept. On the first day one kid ended up on the sidelines watching everyone play while he was pouting because he did no want to pass the ball in a game of basketball. I felt like that kid (I don’t want to name names, but I think people know who I am talking about) got better at working with others especially during the paper airplane building competition when he taught his teammate a trick to fly the paper airplane farther. I do feel that some children, such as him, will have to learn how to work in a team environment the hard way but I think the idea is floating around in the back of his mind.

Some of the kids were a lot younger then I expected. Some of the activities we planned for required more attention and understanding then they were willing or able to give. By the end we adjusted our activities properly to provide a good time for all the children. When we saw an activity heading south we would quickly change the focus to a different game. I think that went well because they all have such a short attention span to begin with. I did see why Daniel is so desperately looking for a conflict resolution session. Some of the kids argue about everything. One kid (still not naming names) would spend about 10 minutes arguing why he was not out in four square every time he played. The other kids would get frustrated with him and not know how to express their emotions towards him. He would sit and argue until Josh or Gerald came to take him aside. One boy I was standing next to during the other boys tantrum whispered to me “he always does this, but I’m not going to say anything. He is just a big baby.” I thought it was cute because he was trying so hard not to get in the middle of the argument.

As I stated earlier, I am not sure if the kids understood the theme of our sessions. They liked having our attention and playing games with us. I liked how their faces lit up when we would walk into the club. I don’t know if I made a difference in a child’s life. I don’t even know if the kids will ever remember me (come on, we taught them how to make boats out of aluminum foil, how could you forget us). But I