A day to just be a kid

September 10^th was national Kids’ Day in Honduras! Think of “Mother’s Day” or “Father’s Day” except apply that to children and you’ve got yourself a national holiday. Now, I’m not entirely sold on the idea that kids need a special day dedicated to them (no matter how good of an idea it sounded to me when I was younger) in this country, because parents do a pretty good job of glorifying their children on a regular basis. But, that is where my complaints will end because it meant a day of no teaching and letting my inner kid out while playing with my students.

The best I can compare this ‘holiday’ to is Halloween. First of all, they do not celebrate Halloween here because it’s a satanic holiday with all the magic and witchcraft, and in a country as religious as this one there will be none of that nonsense. So secondly, rather than pass out candy then, we just sugar up all the little ones on Kids’ Day! I was told (no asking, no giving me a choice) that I had to buy treats for my students. All of the elementary teachers were given 10Lemps per student and then we could spend the money however we wanted, but it had to be used to purchase sugary foods. I made all of my students cupcakes and then bought some lollipops to pass out too. Now thirdly, I am sad to report that they do not get to dress up in any sort of costume, but they do get to wear their normal clothes to school. So they are wearing clothes of out the ordinary. Now what do we do with all these normal-looking, hyper kids? Play with them!

Before embarking on our day of pure fun, we made time for God. We had a nice devotion in the morning led by the Honduran teachers. The kids were a little anxious about getting to all the fun, but they still have to praise and worship God, and learn a little more from the Bible. After that, the wild beasts were released. They had snack time and recess; I played ring-around-the-rosie with a few of my students which turned into a giant group of kids and myself holding hands and running around in circles. We always started in a circle but it quickly turned into this kind of clump of students running around each other and dragging their friends behind them. I love how simple games can be and yet all the kids go crazy for it :) After recess, the 1^st-3^rd grade students went down to the basketball court to play organized games. In true Honduran style, the teachers in charge had not set anything up so we all stood around, roasting in the sun, and doing photo shoots with my camera. You know how a photographer always tells his model “the camera loves you”? Well, it was the opposite for me – the kids loved the camera. Everyone wanted to be in the pictures that I was taking! Then, they all wanted a turn to take a picture. After making sure that I got all of my 3^rd graders in at least one picture (with whoever decided to photo-bomb their picture), I let them each take one picture on my camera. I was just as nervous as you are right now thinking that I handed over my camera to a bunch of 9-year-olds who had never held, let alone seen, a camera before. But, I monitored their time with my camera like a Nazi. Now I have tons of pictures with my precious little kiddos!

Finally the ‘organized’ games began and the kids were divided into teams. I was in charge of the blue team and we had to compete in a multitude of races. They always had to run around a giant circle but after that varied – in one race they had to run to the middle and snag the soda-bottle or bean bag first, then in another game they had to throw their bean bag to knock over the soda-bottle first. After we sufficiently wore out all the students (many thanks to the blazing hot sun) we went back up to the classrooms to play and eat. I spent most of that time swinging kids around upside-down or giving out piggyback rides. Needless to say, I was extremely exhausted and sweaty by the time Kids’ Day was over. I handed out my treats to my class and then sent the kids home on a sugar-high to go terrorize their parents. It was only a half-day at school, but it felt longer than any normal day – those kids completely sucked out all my energy! I had too much fun with them.

While all the elementary students were playing at the school, all the secondary students were sent to neighboring aldeas to put on Kids’ Day activities for those elementary schools. Obviously I did not go with any of the groups, but I have an idea of what happened. The groups each had student-leaders that organized and ran all the activities, with the help of their peers. They were all supervised by teachers, but the students were essentially in charge. It was their responsibility to bring candy to those kids and play games with them too all morning. I heard they all went well and every student had a blast!

This week be praying for one of my students in particular: Wendy. Her grandfather died last week and I can imagine the heartbreak. It is my understanding that he has been sick for a while, so at least his pain and suffering have ended. She missed school on Friday which was a big test day, so pray for her strength to continue on with school this week and to perform well. She is one of my lower students and I don’t want her to get further behind everyone else or to lose focus. Pray for her whole family that they find some peace throughout this experience and find strength in the unity of this community.