Reading for Enjoyment

            Kids have always been an inspiration to me. The way they are so incredibly loving and careless makes me wonder what happened to the rest of us. I’ve always wanted to give back to children who make life worth living for those of us who have forgotten the true meaning of life and happiness. Their outlook on life is so much better than that of adults. They love each other, and when they fight, they make up a minute later. That is truly inspiring.

            A little boy in my reading group was obviously having a bad day. Whether it was the rain or that he couldn’t play with the toy he wanted to, is still a mystery. Nonetheless, he was extremely upset. It’s difficult to take a moment and single out a child during reading, because the other kids should not have to stop reading the book or paying attention simply because one child cannot do the same. I had two choices in this situation. I could ask my team leader to kindly walk the boy over to the teacher and have her handle the situation, or I could foster my growing relationship with this boy by somehow redirecting his emotions onto the story we were reading. I was still very new at this at the time, and was extremely nervous about how to handle this.

            The book we were reading was at the point where the baby girl was extremely sad because she missed her brother so much (Oonga Boonga). The little girl’s family was doing everything in their power to get the girl to stop crying. However, little did they know that all the little girl needed was her big brother to return. This was the point where I had to somehow integrate the emotions of this boy in my reading group into the story. Right when I was about to ask him what makes him so sad, I thought to myself that another approach may be more prudent in this situation. So instead of asking the boy in my reading group what makes him cry, I turned to the page where the big brother came back and the baby girl stopped crying. I asked him to explain what he saw in the picture, and then to tell me what makes him smile like the little girl was in the story on that page. Then I went around the circle and asked the other children the same question. Soon every single one of the children was smiling up at me. While this was already magical enough as it is, the thing that will make me retain this memory forever is what the little boy, who had long stopped crying did. It was amazing that a four-year-old could completely understand the impact the book had on him, and that he wanted to share it with me when he asked me what makes me most happy. My response: “Right now, reading this book with all of you.”  
~Brianna Seiler
Corps member
Team Joy