Spiders and Flies

When I was applying for a position with NPH I was most intrigued by the opportunity to provide physical therapy in a Latin American country. I downplayed the fact that I would be working with kids, both in my own mind and when describing the opportunity to other people. The reality was that I had very little pediatric physical therapy experience and limited interactions with kids in my personal life. Living and working in a big city like Chicago, sometimes it felt like days would go by without seeing a kid. During my morning bike commute it was always a shock to see a kid riding his bike or walking to school. My most recent kid credentials involve being an uncle to my nephew and niece, which usually involves fighting the rest of my family for their short bursts of attention.

One of my few legitimate kid experiences involved working as the part-time phys. ed. teacher at Sacred Heart School during my last year in Camden. I would teach K-4th grade on Tuesday mornings and 5th-8th on Thursday. It was a tough gig because they were inner city kids and it was the only scheduled physical outlet that they had at school all week. I wanted to respect their need to burn off some energy, but I also needed to retain some sense of order. The result was chaos...fist fights, cat fights, and tears almost every class. Not to mention the fact that I was usually alone with them in a park across from the school and I had to leave right after class to go to my other job, so I could never enforce any of my punishments.

One of my few positive memories was playing a game called Spiders and Flies with the younger kids. They would line up at one end of the soccer field and I would pick a couple "spiders" who would go to midfield, the rest of the kids would be "flies". Then there was a chant between the two groups: "We are spiders!"..."We are flies!"..."We're going to catch you!"..."You just try!" Then the flies would try to run to the other side of the field without being caught. If they were, they'd become spiders.

Every Sunday here at NPH we do a volunteer activity with the kids in the afternoon. Today I decided I would do Spiders and Flies (Aranjas y Moscas) with the younger kids. I wasn't creative enough to come up with a chant, but I made sure to hype them up before they ran. They really got into it. As you can see from the pictures, they were at a pool activity before mine, so they're sporting their swim gear. No fights and no tears...it was good day.

As far as my kid credentials go, I think I'm slowly advancing. I was pretty shell shocked my first day here, but I'm learning. I've noticed that kids often don't want to "interact" with you, they just want you to show up. They don't always say much at the dinner table or in the dorm at night, but they always ask me to show up and they always notice if I'm gone.