Kids are kids everywhere!!!!

Dec. 9 2011

The kids are amazing and interacting with them in always an exciting experience. The truth of the matter is children are the same everywhere. It has been interesting for me to see the children’s ability to manipulate volunteers. I guess this can be seen as both a negative and a positive. I think this is a skill they have learned as a coping skill to get by as a result of the constant changes in volunteers. Overall I think it is a good thing. I have observed the difficulty teaching the children limits, boundaries and expectations with both the constant change in volunteers and the limited amount of supervision they have from the owners of the orphanage. The limited amount of supervision is not for lack of trying by the owners, but both the amount of children and the cultural understanding that older children look after young children. It is very interesting to me how well the kids actually do with such little supervision. If my past client’s had this little supervision, there is no telling what they would get themselves into. It is a struggle for me since clear expectations and consistency is something that I have spent so much time educating parents on and these children have neither. The children here have so much responsibility. Children as young as 3 are responsible for getting themselves out of bed, bathed, dressed and teeth brushed every morning. Volunteers and older children are there to help, but it is amazing how independent an 8 year old child can be to get both herself and her younger sister ready for school. There are multiple sets of siblings here that seem to work as teams to make sure everyone is taken care of. I am often in aww of the older teenage boys that do so much for their younger siblings. This is something I feel like I would rarely see at home by a teenage boy.

Priceless



Martha and me

Alice and Francisca

Let the craziness begin

Jessica and Joyce

Brotherly love!!!!

6 year old twins 

The sisters Ruth, Portia and Paulina

Brother and sister fun!

Here is an older brother than is nothing but amazing to his little sisters. But in the same breath he does not allow them to break the rules and I have seen him correct and punish his two younger sisters before. I feel as though fear is often used since physical punishment is often used by both older children, the owners and teachers.    

So caring and protective of his little sister.

One of the struggles I am having is the little ones need for attention. I feel like I could be holding a child at all times. The most heart breaking is putting a child down and he or she bursts into tears. I know a 3 year old does not need to be carried constantly, but as a result of other volunteers doing this, the younger ones now expect this. I often wonder what type of impact this is having on the child. I struggle with my understanding of children’s developmental need to learn independence and self-soothing with the need for children to get attention and feel valued.

This little guy melted my heart. He loved
 to me held and it was tough to say no to such
an adorable face



My little friends



The use of physical punishment is the main form of punishment both in the school and in orphanage. Children are often say they were “beat” or “caned” by older children, teachers and other adults as a result of misbehavior. As we all know I do not believe in physical punishment and I really don’t believe in using a stick to hit someone. I will never forget seeing a welt on a boys arm that he received from an older boy as a result of stealing and lying. The part that was hardest for me was that the owners saw this as a regular and normal way to address stealing and lying. Caning is often done in the school setting for both misbehavior and not completing school work. I struggle to see all forms of physical punishment , however I know it is not my place to change their cultural norms. I did my best to often role model other ways to address misbehavior (i.e. loss of privileges, rewarding positive behavior of others). I am aware I can’t make a cosmic shift in the way they live but teaching new ways could increase safety of the children or even make just one person think about other ways to motivate children to behave rather than hurting them so they are fearful. I think that at times fear is what drives the children’s decisions and actions.