Just here to help

(has it really been almost a month since my last post? inexcusable...)

First, let me invite everybody (well, everybody who will be in the Bay Area on Feb. 29) to our first Club Kangaroo respite event. All special needs kids and their siblings are invited - we will all be having fun while the parents get to go out on a Friday night all by themselves. Even if you can't come, please do forward this to anybody you know who can use it. It may be easier to just send them this link: http://www.bethel.org/ChildrensMinistries_ClubKangaroo.htm



Today was a great day in Club K - in the way that great days are often the hardest days. There have been many Sundays where we just have a few kids, or even just our own kids, and it's very easy. But even though we often have a good time on those days, we go home feeling like we really didn't do our job.

Today, we did our job.

We had a new boy today; we were all excited about it since his mom had prepared us 'for the worst'. He's on the spectrum and apparently has some of the same issues that our other boy members have - anger, violence, no patience, very little attention span, etc. His mom hung out in the class for the first hour, but we encouraged her to leave him in the 2nd hour. It took a while but she snuck out while he was occupied and he did great! We had 2 other boys with powder keg personalities, so it was 90 minutes that was harder on us than any normal work day. We've recently instituted a very scheduled approach to the class and it has been so helpful. The kids know what to expect and when things are going to change; not only that, but they know when a particular activity is going to end as well. We've been so much more productive this way and it makes it much easier on all of us as well. Cassidy and a few others did a puppet show on David and Goliath - little did they know I had prepared all of the kids with foam balls so when it was time to throw the rocks at Goliath, all of the kids threw the balls! Although there was a lot going on the entire time, everybody did really good and I am just so impressed with the team and with the kids.

Although we love playing with the kids, and it is just incredibly satisfying to see the progress they have made over time, it is even more exciting to see the parents (single, married, grandparents, and every combination you can think of) get a couple of hours of 'me time' to meet people, grow friendships, learn, and hopefully start the week fresh and rested. Hopefully we can do a little more of the same with our respite event.