Guest Post By My Mum: My 45 Grandchildren

It's been a while since my Mum's last guest post; if you missed that one, you can find it here. It is, I believe, well worth reading.

Now for today's guest post:

My 45 Grandchildren

Though I have no biological grandchildren, I have 45 "adopted" ones. How is that? Well, I do  voluntary work at a kindergarten with 45 kids between 3 and 6 years old. 

In my home town we have a social network called "Vorlesepaten", literally meaning "read-out-godmothers (or -fathers)". It sounds a bit odd in English.... Altogether, there are about 60 of us, 50 women and 10 men, who visit kindergartens or elementary schools weekly to read to the children (picture books, fairy tales or other stories).

We have many children with an immigration background who nobody ever reads to at home, at least not in German. It is also a question of focusing; my task is to teach them how to sit and listen, to be quiet and to understand what they hear. Of course they are allowed to ask questions, and often they are very eager to tell me something very, very important of their own experience, for example, when I read a story about a little dog, or a teddy bear, they can contribute a lot to the subject.

It is really very cute, how they enter into the stories, they mostly take it for real. I love going there on Wednesdays so very much. The kids know when I come, and they run to me, hug and kiss me, chatting and telling me their news, show me a new dress, new shoes, or a new hair grip and tell me what happened to them recently.

And the kindergarten teachers are very nice, too. They invite me to their fêtes, outings, Christmas and Easter celebrations. Everyone makes me feel very welcome, and very much part of it, and those hours with the kids give me a lot.

- - - End of guest post - - - 

Actually, one of those outings was already mentioned in a previous guest post of my Mum; you can find that one here. 

I think it's great that my Mum does this voluntary work! What she has not told you is that she is the one who organizes all the other volunteers of this program. She gives them very valuable tips on how to deal with the children and the staff at the institutions where they read (which is by no means always a piece of cake!), helps choosing books appropriate for the age of the children, and so on.

Last Saturday, we had a community summer fest for our part of town, held at the school centre (it comprises an elementary school and two schools for further education as well as a sports centre and a branch of the town library). My Mum had been asked to read to the children at the library, and my sister and I went along.

 

The weather was wonderful, and many activities for children were taking place outside; that made for an audience a bit smaller than expected. Still, it was very nice for us to see our Mum "in action"! Of course, I did not take any pictures when the children were there; these were taken before the reading started to give you an idea of how nicely everything had been prepared.

Here's my Mum's biggest fan, can't wait for the reading to start :-D

Afterwards, we took a stroll across the fest, had something to eat and drink, and an ice cream later; we talked to people we knew and people we'd never met before, had a look at all the stalls and eventually walked home on this beautiful sunny afternoon.