Child's Play

Today we did our community project for class...we went and volunteered our time at a Preschool. At first, I wasn't too sure how much we would contribute to the program. As we arrived I could feel myself become a bit tense at the uncertainty and it was most likely visible to the kids and staff. It seemed like everyone but us knew what was going on and what to do.

You could tell that the kids were just as uncertain about us as we were about them. One little girl kept looking from Jason to me and back to Jason not sure of who we were and what we were doing there. The staff refereed to her behavior as "stranger danger" behavior. She would not leave the teachers side and you could tell that her body was quite tense because she was so unsure of who we were. On the other hand, we had a few of the little ones looking up at us and mimicking our behavior. It was interesting to see the difference of body language of some of the kids towards us.

One of the kids I noticed right off the bat was a little boy who was off in the corner all by himself. He seemed shy and uninterested in what everyone else was doing. Jason made a point of making him feel included. You could tell after bit that he seemed to open up and warm up quite a bit after just receiving some attention.

I think today was the day where I noticed body language the most. I was able to see how interaction and relationships play a role in body language. If a child does not know you and is not comfortable around you, you will visibly see it much more than you would in an adult. Children put everything out there for you to see it. As the day progressed it was so fun to see the kids loosen up and begin to interact with us. This also helped us with our body language. We were no longer appearing nervous or stiff because we did not know what was going on around us. I believe that this helped put the kids as ease as well.

By the end of the morning we were able to interact with the kids and actually learn a little bit about them. I love seeing a child open up to someone they wouldn't have if they did not feel comfortable. We need to be aware of what we are expressing through our bodies when we are around children. I believe that they can read us better then we can ourselves. Be aware of your impact on them.