08/12/09

Today was a fun day at the Boys and Girls Club. As soon as I arrived, I helped prepare the snacks and made lemonade for the kids. They were allowed to consume one serving of chips and as many drinks as they wanted. The other intern, Tyler, did not follow up on that rule with one of the kids. I tried to take the chips back from the kid, but Tyler gave him permission and I didn't want to argue in front of the kids. I almost had to put the kid in time out later because he attempted to take more chips. I was able to experience first hand what it was like to want to discipline a child. If I catch him trying to do it again, he will get a time out.

I also started out in the Powerhour program today. There were five kids total that chose to do their homework today. Most of them actually seemed like they were pretty intelligent. They have been placed in some advanced math courses. There was only one instance where a girl was stuck on a math problem and asked for my health. The one thing that my supervisor mentioned that I did not think of was to check their homework when they were finished. He said some of them like to guess if they do not know the answer just so they can get done and go play. Each kid receives points for participating in one of the programs offered from 3:30-4:30. With these points they can purchase things at their store.

Afterwards, I learned how to play Doctor. It is a Dodgeball game where each team has a designated person called a doctor. The object is to hit him or her with a dodgeball. If he or she is hit, their team loses. If another team member gets hit with a ball, they have to take a knee until the doctor tags them. Then they are back in the game. During the game, one of the kids got elbowed in the eye. I took him to the snack room, gave him an ice pack with a towel wrapped around it, and stayed in there to make sure he was going to be okay. He ended up being okay. These things tend to happen sometimes. I think he really appreciated that I took the time out to take care of him.