Everyone needs to have a feeling of belonging. We belong to our families and then to our community.
At Children’s Country House one of our goals is to foster a sense of community. One way we try to do that is to have get-togethers. It fosters a wonderful feeling of family and is gives us a chance to get to know one another a little better. When the children help cook the Thanksgiving luncheon they learn from the experience how much time, effort and planning it takes to make an community or family event happen.
An important aspect of community is getting to know one another better. The teachers are always getting to know the children. We make an effort to have conversations and in which we just listen. Children have wonderful things to say and it is fun to listen to their ideas even when they are fanciful.
It is always amazing to me when some one publishes statistics showing how little time we spend listening to each other. There are always so many things to do that conversation falls by the wayside. Everybody has a need to be known including children. It is important to listen to them. Community is developed and improved when we listen to one another.
Another aspect of community is learning to get along. When children are part of a classroom they have an opportunity to learn to respect the rights of others. They learn that they need to take turns and to respect the rights of their classmates. We often talk with the children about how they want to be respected and therefore must learn to respect others. That’s the way everyone can have a good time.
Our Christmas party is a great example of our families coming together to support their children. There is something magical for me when there are a lot of people together having a good time.
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