New Frontiers

When I first started working with the volunteer reader program, preschoolers were sort of like zoo animals to me, cute from a distance but terrifying up close. I saw my job as finding enthusiastic trainers to tame them, nothing more. As far as I was concerned, if there were people out there crazy enough to willingly enter the lair, I was more than happy to cheer them on from a safe distance. I had worked with older children before and completely respected the mission of the program, I was just fairly certain that my work with children would remain entirely behind the scenes at least until they begam to develp some semblance of human-like awareness.

To my great chagrin however, a day came when two of my greatest fears came head to head. It was quickly becoming evident that as someone who saw a young child as a distant relative to a leprechaun or a lawn gnome, I had no business telling people how to read to children. I have always been a fanatical perfectionist and taken pride in giving 100% to my work, and now I had to decide what I was more terrified of, a classroom ful of 3-5 year olds, or proclaiming to all of King County that I had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. So, as it always does, my obsessive compulsive side won out and I became a volunteer reader [shudder].

Unlike many of our volunteer readers, I can't say that I was especially nervous on my first day of reading. I truly believed that only certain kinds of people have a rapport with small children, and only these people can make a real difference in their lives. What did I have to be nervous about when I expected to be a piece of furnature in the room? As for the children, I imagined them as a single entity that would tear through the school like a tornado, leaving me and my pile of forgotten storybooks in its wake of destruction.

From the second I walked into the classroom for my first weekly hour of reading I knew I was wrong. When I opened the door the whole class came running to greet me. Who was I? Why I was there? Did I know that I had pretty long hair like a mermaid? These weren't zoo animals at all! They were curious, they had personalities and names, and I couldn't read to them fast enough! Even in my first few weeks as a reader the kids associated me with books and knew that if they wanted to have that coveted one-on-one time with me, they would have to bring me a story to read. They only problem with this incredible enthusiasm was the fact that before long I had five or six bringing me books as soon as I arrived. In an effort to restore order and repress the very real zoo animal like qualities that were coming out in the children as they fought over who would read first, the teachers quickly developed a list of names for me to go down each time I read.

As for reading itself, it has been amazing. The children have a real interest in and enthusiasm for reading, and it's been nothing but a joy to help foster that in them. One of my greatest worries was that I would have nothing to talk to the kids about as I read. Again, I completely underestimated them. They love to talk about everything! They have endless questions about what's going on and how the characters are feeling, they love to count things and tell you about animals and colors, and if you ask them if they have a kitty cat at home, you had better be prepared to settle in and listen to a five minute speech about Fluffy and his heroic exploits.

As I always tell our volunteers, the relationships they will build with the children are one of the most important elements of the volunteer reader program. The stories mean more to the kids when they can talk about them with an adult that they know and trust. The children at ReWA have become so comfortable with me, that some of them are even trying their own had at reading aloud. One little boy took this responsibility so seriously that he would snap at me to be patient and listen when I asked too many questions, and even used his teacher's time-tested tricks for keeping restless kids quiet when I tried to talk to him too much about the book.

So that's my story. Not only am I now able to talk to new volunteer readers frankly and honestly about the program and provide them with the kind of support they deserve, but the children I'm working with have taught me that preschoolers are hungry for knowledge, and that the adults in their lives play a huge part in what they learn during those important early years. One of my most memorable moments was when a little girl proclaimed to me "that goose is very foul-tempered!" How else would she have picked up language like that unless an adult had been reading to her? What our readers are doing for these kids is extrememly important, and I am so proud to be a part of it. Besides, my mom now has a hope of getting grandchildren someday, so everybody wins :)