I have worked at Lydia Home for about two months now. I have spend countless hours with the children helping them with homework assignments, letting them braid my hair, playing hide-and-seek, and spending time with their families at the Friday Night Cookouts. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Lydia Home and have decided to continue to donate my time to the children. They have taught me so much and I know I can learn so much more everytime I volunteer at Lydia Home.
Looking back at the time I have spent at Lydia Home so far, I have noticed a few recurring themes. These include perception, empathy, and language. Of these, perception seems to be one of the most prevelant. When I first came to Lydia Home, I perceived that the children might not be open to me helping them and that they might not want to listen to me. However, as I spent more time with the kids, my perception changed. I can now see that they are more than happy to have me spend time with them. While they are not always the greatest listeners when it comes to settling down and getting homework done, they do try their hardest to get their work done. Another incident in which perception is prevelant was when helping the kids with homework. Much of the information I helped teach them seemed pretty easy to me. Because of this, I perceived that they should have a pretty easy time understanding the concepts as well. However, I realized that they perceive things differently than I do. I have to adjust the way I taught them to make it easier for them to understand their homework.
Another recurring theme was language. Language is so important in our everyday lives. I truly realized this while working at Lydia Home. I saw how important it was to monitor what I say and to make sure that I do not say anything that could offend the children. I have to make sure I talk appropriately around the children. It is not appropriate to use swear words or talk about what I did over the weekend. Instead, I need to spend more time paying attention to the children, answering their questions and keeping them involved in the conversations. Also, I realized that, due to perception, it can be easy to accidentally offend one of the kids. For example, a few of the kids were playing football. One of them was throwing the ball wrong and, when corrected, he was offended. he thought that we were lookin down at his abilities when we were just trying to help him play a little better. It is important to choose our words wisely to effectively and appropriately send a message to these little kids. Finally, I realized how important language is when I noticed how many of the children could not properly communicate. Some of the kids did not know how to use words to describe what they want. They could not ask for what they needed, making it difficult to address their needs. Also, some of the kids could use words, but not the right words. They would say they were hungry when they were thirsty and vise versa. I realized that language is so important in communication!
Finally I noticed how recurring empathy was. I had to be empathetic to all the kids and the situations they came from. Many of these kids had parents in prison, had tough home lives, or had parents with mental and pysical illnesses that caused a strain on the family. I had the pleasure to work with these kids and talk with some of their parents to learn more about them. I was constantly trying to see the world how these kids and their families saw it. By having a different percetion and by being empathetic to their situations, it made it much easier for me to work with them and understand where their acting out and school struggles stem from.
I have learned so much from working at Lydia Home. I will use what I have learned to help me in the future. I will work harder to be more empathetic towards others. When others are being rude towards me or seem to be having a rough day, I will work harder to try to view life through their eyes. I will also be careful about my perception. I will make sure that I consider all perceptions towards a situation. By checking my perception, I can make sure I react to any given situation in the best way possible. Finally, I have realized that I need to be much more consciencious on how I talk to others. I am much more aware of how I talk to my family, friends, and anyone I come into contact with. I will work harder to be a more effective and proficient communicator as well as a better person in general. Lydia Home has taught me so much. I plan on using all I have learned to shape me into a better person than I currently am!
