Everybody Counts

On Monday I volunteered at the boys' school to be a part of the Everybody Counts program. I was excited to do this because I have great memories of it when I was little. My job was to help the kindergarten classes learn about people who are blind, deaf or who have physical disabilities. Basically, it was a basic overview for kids who are probably learning about this for the first time.

Kindergartners are so darn cute. They have so much to share, even if it has nothing to do with what we're talking about. It's nice that they like to share bits of their lives with me. There were three classes and with each one we started off with a book talking about differences between people's parts (i.e. different shaped noses), but understanding that we're basically the same (e.g. they all breath, sneeze, etc.).

Then there were three activities where the kids learned about braille, sign language, and how difficult it would be to do the things we take for granted if we had trouble using a body part (e.g. they had to pick up cheerios with a sock over their hand).

It wasn't overwhelming for them, just a taste that will be built upon in the coming years. I think it's great that schools have programs like this because I wouldn't even know what to do in approaching subjects like this at home with my kids (e.g. the smoking debacle).

On another note, one of the classes was Benny's and I loved meeting all his friends, and seeing how he interacts with them. It's great now to be able to put a face to the names in the stories he tells.