"Can We Have Letters of the Day?"
Today was the 2nd day of clinical for this semester. I'll have six weeks of Med/Surg two days a week, then I'll rotate through three other areas two weeks each. At the start of the day, I was thinking (again), "Now WHY am I doing this?" At the end of the day, I was stopping by ICU to see an old friend and by HR to pick up an application (to work as a nurse aide as needed on weekends).Today started out cold with the temperature at 32F. By the time I left the hospital it was almost 70F. A day like this needs hammock time! So, I came home and opened up windows, got a snack and was about to go out to the back yard when three of the neighbor kids appeared at the door, calling to me through the open window in the door.
"Deb'rah! Deb'rah! Can we have letters of the day? Can we have letters of the day?" There were three kids this time. "Sure you can. What letters do you want?" Since they couldn't agree, I suggested they each pick a letter. They chose 'J', 'K', and 'S'.
I got my cup of soup and joined them outside. The 'K' girl started spouting off 'K' words as fast as she could. The 'J' girl said, "I'm bored," and went next door to see what was going on. Then, the 'S' girl and the 'K' girl looked through the newspaper for words starting with those letters.
They all lost interest after about ten minutes, so I was ready to say goodbye and go back inside. But, we talked another minute when I suggested an idea they liked ("Maybe sometime you can cut out pictures from magazines and cut out the letters they start with."). One said, "Could we glue them on paper???" Sure! Of course you can. Then, that one wandered off.
The last one asked me to get a book and let her look for 'S' words. I said, "I'll get a 1st grade book, so it will be easy." She's in 2nd grade. She said, "Could you get a 3rd grade book, so I can learn to read 3rd grade books?" Cool! Sure!
So, I got a couple of books and we went to the front yard. The other two joined us again. They sat on the front steps and I stood in front of them, as in a classroom, and read the book to them, making a big display of showing the pictures. They alternately listened and jumped down and ran around the corner of the house to tell secrets.
Before the story was over, not even five minutes, the older sister of one of the girls (a tough-acting girl who dropped out of high school several years ago and swears a lot) started screaming at her sister to come home and screaming at the other two girls telling them their mom wanted them to go home.
That behavior seems so bizarre to me. It's always an, "If you don't ..., I'm going to beat your ..." kind of a threat. There's not any respectful behavior from adults (or want-to-be adults) to the children ... none that I see anyway.
It's just so weird. What was the sudden emergency that required someone to scream at the kids and threaten them when they were in plain view of the adults right next door? I've offered a number of times to help the older sister study for the G.E.D. exam, but I think she might be a little too 'tough' to let anyone help her.
I hope someday there is someone in her life who she can trust enough to allow to help her. I hate to see people's lives going nowhere just because the people around them made the same less-than-optimal choices. It's pretty clear that I am not that person. She has too big a chip on her shoulder and I don't know the right language (figuratively speaking) to be of any value to her.
To those who want to learn to read, I say, YOU CAN DO IT! YOU CAN LEARN TO READ. THE WORLD OPENS UP TO YOU WHEN YOU READ. YOU CAN GO ANYWHERE, DO ANYTHING, MEET ANYONE IF YOU CAN READ. READING IS YOUR PASSPORT TO A LIFE BEYOND THE CIRCLE THAT IS AROUND YOU NOW.
Speaking of life beyond the circle, I have a lot of clinical work due in the morning (along with an 8-11am class, an 11am-12noon class, and a 1-4pm class), so I'd better get moving. I want to always keep learning, so I can keep moving the edges of my circle wider and wider and wider.
Happy reading to all, and to all a good night!
posted by jordanrep.com/10522 @ 4:28 PM
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