A Day at the Zoo

So today was quite an interesting day. I went to the Tulsa Zoo with a group of college students and the Special Ed class from Cherokee Elementary. Our job, as college students, was to take a kid around the zoo with us and make sure they were entertained and kept in line, so to speak. I have worked with special children before, and have always found the experience rewarding but strangely challenging. Today was no different. My child was a little boy, approximately 8 or 9 years old, that went by the name Brazen (which, oddly enough, is the name of the first trashy romance novel I ever bought!). This kid was a trip. He was very energetic, running from exhibit to exhibit, calling over his shoulder from time-to-time, "Come on Sarah! We ain't got all day!" I, being of the slow-walkers nature, was trailing behind him and just trying my hardest to keep my eyes on him. He was shy at first, but then was holding onto my hand and yelling excitedly about the animals. Everything was going well, until the train.

Oh, the train incident. My little kid wanted to ride the train as soon as he saw it. Unfortunately, we had to wait in line. This was unacceptable for him, and I was having a difficult time trying to keep him in line (literally, he was trying to cut to the front of the line so we could get on). So I get him to stand with me, and then he pouts about it for the rest of the time, even though the next train came within 5 minutes. I think that he was mad at me, but not really mad at me. He just wanted what he wanted when he wanted it. And I couldn't give it to him; therefore, his anger was taken out on me. After the train ride, I had him subdued for a short period of time by letting him ride the carousel. But, as we all know, that ride goes by way too fast for a child. So there was about a 45 minute time period before we had to meet up again with the rest of the group that was spent with me chasing him around and him running into people and other horrible things. Luckily, once he realized he was getting food (we were meeting up so the children could eat lunch), he loved me again. Despite the fact that a portion of the day was stressful, I really enjoyed the zoo. My kid was a sweetheart, and gave a great big hug when I said goodbye to him. All-in-all I have this to say about my experience today: I really love working with children and think they can be awesome, but if I'm with them for anything longer than a few hours, I become frustrated beyond belief.