The children disperse to various sections--eager to get involved in different subjects. I take my place at Puzzles. Laying the cards name-side-down on the floor, I preset some puzzles for the children. This week’s puzzle is memory name card matching. Every child has two cards with his or her name on it. The goal of the puzzle is to find a match by flipping over two cards at a time. With this puzzle the kids are able to practice memory, name recognition, problem solving, and many other beneficial lessons.
Soon, three boys visit the Puzzle area. Two of the boys, friends tied at the hip, work together on a puzzle with great enthusiasm and many giggles. I interject when help is needed. We exchange laughs and smiles as more and more matches are found.
One boy, a regular at the Puzzle section, becomes immediately submerged in his pre-set game. Looking for a match, he flips over one name card and another. No match. He looks to me for reassurance. “Keep lookin’! And try to remember what names those two cards were!” I tell him. He keeps at it--determination shows in his furrowed brow and glee shows in the small smile on his face.
After a few more turnings of the cards he finds a match. “I’ve got one! I’ve got one!” he declares, as he holds the two name cards high in the air above his head. The matched pair shakes with the contagious energy radiating from the boy. We celebrate the match by swaying back and forth--an odd ritual of sorts--while we continue to sit criss-cross-apple-sauce on the tile floor. He then focuses back on his puzzle. With patience, endurance and persistence, he eventually matches all the names. He beams at me as I collect all the matches. “I did it! I matched them all!” he proudly states. “You sure did! I knew you could do it!” I reply, beaming as big as him. “Wanna do another?” I ask. “YES!” he practically yells. I set up a new puzzle. Excitement building in both of us after the second, third, and forth round.
The confidence he is building for himself is visible as I watch--and occasionally help--him with his puzzle. This particular puzzle has been repeated in previous sessions. And this little guy who is a regular, well, he’s done it before. But the first time wasn’t so smooth. He found matches and enjoyed the puzzles as always, but frustration would bubble up too. After spending ten minutes looking for a match an exasperated sign would surface from his frustrated demeanor. I would help enough to keep the game fun, but not so much as to make it deliberately easy. He continued on. With help, he was able to find more and more matches. His frustration slowly changed to confidence. When he got all the matches we of course did our celebratory sway dance ritual. It was an important moment for him--a moment where he and I were both proud of his accomplishments.
So, when I was placed at the Puzzle section, with the memory card matching game, and our regular at the puzzle section walked over again, dominated the puzzle with minimal help, and had no frustration what was I feeling? Well, it is safe to say I was immensely proud--and infinitely touched. I feel honored to be able to be a part of his growth in not just learning, but personal discovery. We get the privilege of working with these children twice a week. At first glance, that isn’t much, but when it comes down to it, watching the confidence in a little boy grow with every card flip, it’s everything.
~Tara Weixel
Corps member
Team Kindness
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