Me & S.

Some of you know about my friend, S. She is 6 years old, and completely off-the-wall. She is so out of control normally that we have had to institute a one-on-one ALL THE TIME system for her, so she's never with the other kids unsupervised.

I have lived in fear of S. for a long time. I have never felt competent to control her, much less help her or teach her in any way. I've always breathed a sigh of relief when she is assigned to another staff member or volunteer. I think Mary, my (wonderful) boss, has sensed my insecurity when it comes to this child, and so she has not asked me to take her on by myself....until tonight.

I walked into Homework Club tonight after a TERRIBLE experience on the van. One of the children had said something very unkind about me. I always forget how mean kids can be, and am completely caught off guard when confronted with it. I have not developed the super-thick skin that my coworkers who have been here longer have, and so I was not feeling as positive when I exited the van and entered the program room as I normally do.

I entered the room and the first thing I heard was a loud wail. I didn't have to look to see who it was - it was classic S., throwing a fit because she didn't get something she wanted. I saw Mary look in my directed, and knew what was coming. "S..... - you're going to be with Miss Emily today. Stay with her - don't switch stations when you hear the bell ring."

I looked towards S and faked a smile. I was going over in my head what he heck we were going to do to fill 2 hours....just her and me. We went into a side room, closed the door....and it began.

Long story short(ish) - S. and I had a rockin' good time. We did some homework, made some play-doh burritos, and played a rousing game of Chutes & Ladders. The best thing was, we got some really good talking time in. We went over her favorite subject, her best friend, what she's looking forward to at Thanksgiving, what she likes about school, what she needs to improve in, etc. etc. etc. We also talked about me - basically the same subjects - we compared.

I'm including a photo of the connect-the-dots picture S. drew for me (I made one for her too, but it wasn't nearly as good). It's a man (with a hat) - in case you can't tell.