Helping out

Today was my first shift volunteering at the Children's Cottage Society's Crisis Nursery. My duties were simple, three hours of playing with kids, fun! The nursery is a pretty remarkable place, it's a safe place for children to get away from the troubles of the real world and just be kids.

I arrived for my shift during breakfast time and things were a bit chaotic. A few of the kids were a little intimidated by me and we all joked about the scary new person. One girl (can't mention any names here) in particular didn't seem to like my presence and spent the remainder of her breakfast in tears.

After breakfast we headed up to the playroom and I had my first 'wow, I'm so happy I'm doing this' experience. While coloring with one of the older girls she leaned over and whispered 'I'm not scared of you'. It was really sweet.

After playing, playing and more playing, it was lunch time. While the kids were still eating I had to leave and so I said goodbye to everyone. To my surprise, the girl who cried at my arrival now cried because I was leaving and waved her little fingers not to go. Guess we formed a bond during play time while building the large castle out of blocks.