What I learned from a 10 year old…

This past weekend I helped chaperone a youth (5th and 6th graders) retreat.  There were 18 in all… full of smiles, excitement, and most terrifyingly… energy.  Lots and lots of energy.

I didn’t know what to expect going into the weekend.  I had never before chaperoned in any capacity… I have very little experience with kids of any age.  During any family events the kids would (and still do) always be attracted to my very charismatic and funny older brother Paul.  I conveniently never had to interact, nor did I put in the energy to interact with kids.  This weekend was stretching for me.  3 years ago I would have immediately been ‘too busy’ to say yes… i would have had ‘other plans’.  Being uncomfortable: What a great place to be.

Things I learned from a 10 year old:

• Lucky Charms are much more popular than Frosted Flakes… by far.
• We are unique at birth… such a beautiful diversity in us.
• I am not as patient as I thought I would be.
• I can operate on less sleep than I thought.
• A movie is a perfect time to catch up on sleep
• You can never have enough cheetos
• Kids CAN listen, and they CAN be taught.
• Throwing dirty underwear around the room is not hilarious.
• Taking 5 minutes to focus 100% on a person can change the world.

To Tristan, Anna, Amy, Alicia, Donovan, Nathaniel, Adam, Casey, Angelina, Jacob, Wally, Jennifer, Alli, Izzy, Christy, Sam, Eric, Nick… Thank you for being my teacher this weekend.

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