Faces of Tomorrow / Faces of Time

Remember the "Roots of Empathy" program I participated in with my son?  I wrote several blog posts chronicling that journey.  Though there was a classroom full of unpredictable kindergarteners, it was worth every moment.  The founder, Mary Gordon (or at least someone working for her), sent me a book.  We all know how much I love books.  Couriered to my home, they sent me, Faces of Time, a photo book of babies!  I love babies.  Mary Gordon's daughter, Melanie, is the photographer.  Baby faces!  

Faces of Time is the second in a series.  The first book, Faces of Tomorrow , is a collection of baby faces, from various cultures, in various expressions.  That one was given to me way back in October when I first signed up for the program.  Faces of Time features Canadian Aboriginal babies, First Nations, Métis and Inuit.  I didn't even realize the babies were aboriginal until I read the "thank you" letter that came with the book.  Honestly, these babies remind me of mine.

I am trying to find these books online!!!!  

Babies love faces.  It's something I learned with my first child.  Faces are full of expression and contrast.  That's why babies are always grabbing at your face, it's just so interesting!

Okay.  So, I'm expressing how cute these books are.  They're simple and nice.  I can't find them at a single retailer.  You can order Faces of Tomorrow through the Roots of Empathy website, but that's it!  Why?  Why are the Gordons making it impossible for their books to be found by the general public?  Do they want to books to have a more exclusive feel?  Are they expensive to reproduce, so they only make enough to fill orders through the website and to give to parents like me?  I'd like to know.  These books are nice, I'm recommending them here, but without a way for anyone who reads this post to easily get their hands on a copy.  Besides ordering the first book, Faces of Tomorrow through the website, I can't find another way.  It almost makes me like the books less.

Roots Day 9: The Finale

The last Roots of Empathy visit was really nice.  The kids were sweet, excited and a little sad that it would be the last visit with the baby.  We talked about how he’s grown and changed.  Since my son has started walking while holding my fingers (parents know what I’m talking about), I walked him around the circle of children instead of carrying him like I usually do.  They got a big kick out of that.  We even put a small chair in the middle of the circle so he could stand and hold himself up and move around.

We got a goodie bag from the class too.  They gave me a little album with a few pictures from each visit.  I got a copy of one of Mary Gordon’s books, Daniel’s Day.  (I haven’t read it yet, but I’m sure I’ll let everyone know what I think.)  The class also made us two books.  One book is full of wishes for my son as he gets older, with drawings of those wishes.  The other book is of wishes for themselves, also with drawings.  We also got a certificate from the official Roots of Empathy office for our participation.  I don’t know what I’m going to do with that.  Put it in some sort of scrapbook?  The other thing I have no idea what I’m going to do with is the giant card the kids made.  It has a photo of all of us from the first day and all the kids signed their name.  Again, it’s really nice and sweet, but where am I going to put it?  It’s huge!

I’ve been going to this class since October.  It’s been nice to see the children smile as we walk in.  I hope that they really have gained something from this experience.

Roots Day 8: Who Am I?

Again, I got busy and I should have written this Wednesday or Thursday, but I just forgot.  (My daughter was sick with croup.  Yikes!  Better now.  Yay!)

This class was our penultimate session.  It makes me a little sad for two reasons.  I’ve liked taking my son out to these classes; the kids really do seem to be getting something out of it.  The second reason is a little more selfish.  It means I’ll be heading back to work soon.  Only about 2 and a half months until I have to give my kids to other people to take care of while I work so I can afford to give my kids to other people to take care of.  I miss them just thinking about it.  I digress.

We did two fun/interesting things.  The first is that the class got to watch me feed the baby, now that he’s on solid foods.  The first food I gave him was something he liked, strawberries (not an allergen in my family, so okay).  He loves strawberries (chopped up very fine).  The next food I gave him was supposed to be something he didn’t like.  It was supposed to show the class how he reacted to something he didn’t want to eat.  So, after a couple bites of the yummy fruit, I gave him cold spinach.  He ate it and kept eating it.  I told the Roots instructor and the teacher I was sorry, he didn’t like it the last time I gave it to him.  The teacher was smart and used it as a teaching moment for the class.  She said, even though the baby didn’t like it the first time he ate it, he tried it again and likes it now.  So when you think you don’t like a food, give it another chance, you might change your mind.  I thought it was smart of her.

The other fun thing we did was discuss my son’s name.  I know I don’t use my kids’ names on the blog and I don’t plan to.  I also don’t use my husband's.  While I like all my readers/followers/blogging buddies, I like to keep a level of anonymity on the blog.  So, I’ll talk about the name thing in a general sort of way.  What the instructor wanted me to explain to the class is how my husband and I picked our son’s name and if it had any meaning to us.  I told them that my husband and I are from two different cultures, so we decided that one of his names would reflect my culture and one my husband's.  The class’s assignment was to go home and ask their parents why they were given their particular name.  I thought it was a nice way to end the session.

In about three weeks, we’ll have our last visit with the class.  Then that will be it for Roots of Empathy.  I think it really has been worth it so far.

Roots Day #7 or Talk To Me, Baby

I should have posted this last week, but it’s been busy and I completely forgot.

This session’s Roots of Empathy topic was communication.  I talked about how I know what my son needs and how he is feeling based on his facial expressions, cries and body language.  Then the teacher related this to the kids when they hurt themselves.  She said something like, she can tell if they’re really hurt or if they just got a little boo-boo based on how they are crying.  I thought it was a good example and she explained it much better than I just did.

What got my attention this week is how much bolder they kids are getting in their attempts to touch my baby.  It’s a rule that they are not supposed to touch me or my son.  It’s a combination of germs (kindergarteners have A LOT of germs that aren’t good for an infant) and if one of them gets to hug him, they all will want to and not all of them know how to be gentle.  They keep trying to grab his hand (which goes directly into his mouth) or they ask if they can hug him.  I feel a little bad that I have to say no; they look a little sad, but those are the rules. Plus, I honestly don’t want the kids touching my son in case he gets sick.  The flu on a 5-year-old is much different than the flu on a 9-month-old.

The kids seem to still be really enjoying the visits and my little baby (who is not so little) seems to really like it too.  I think only two more visits left to go!

Roots Day #6 or Getting Excited About Sleep

I can't believe I've done six of these Roots classes already.  The time goes by so fast.  We measured my son in the class today.  It is something that is done three times over the course, beginning middle and end.  The kids were so excited to see how much he's grown.  They were also excited to see how much more he was moving around.  Conveniently for the class, my son started using rolling over as a means of transportation on Tuesday.  So he was moving all around his green blanket.  The kids were excited that he was "coming to see them".  Maybe the next time they see him, he'll be doing more.

The theme for this unit was sleep.  We explained to the kids what his preferences were.  He doesn't sleep with a nightlight.  What kind of blanket does he use?  Dies he sleep with a stuffed animal? - He's too young to sleep with a stuffed animal, plus he doesn't want one.

It was an interesting class; definitely better than the last too.  Now, I'm back to looking forward to the next one.

Roots Day #5 Or, The Day I Forgot To Write About

I guess I've been so busy with the kids, I forgot to write about the Roots class last week.  Class 5 dealt with emotions.  We talked about why my son would be happy, mad, sad or scared and then the children related it to their own lives.  I think it was an important topic for the class. 

For some reason, this class didn’t make that much of an impression on me.  The kids were the same, the carpet, the art and thankfully the teachers.  It wasn’t particularly crazy or boring or inspiring.  It was regular.  Maybe I had higher expectations after such a disappointing class in December.  I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see what February’s class brings.

Roots Day 3 or I Don't Think The Kids Learned Anything

I had another Roots session on Wednesday.  I don't think the kids learned anything.

This session was supposed to have me go through my diaper bag and explain to the kids what I take with me to care for my son.  Did they retain any of what I said?  I don't know.  A few of them might have.

The teacher and the educational assistant (EA) weren't there.  Instead, there was a supply teacher and a supply EA.  It's difficult to keep control of kindergarteners when you don't even know there name.  The Roots instructor told me that in this instance, the school is supposed to call her and have her reschedule.  It's policy.  The kids didn't learn anything and they were getting a little too close to me and my son.  I wonder if the instructor had a few words for the school administration after I left.

Roots, Day #2 – Crying or What He Was Doing All Day Except For When We Were In The Class

[For the post about my first class and other information click here.]

My baby boy did not have any good snoozes today. He fussed and cried a lot. I was worried for when we had to be in the kindergarten class, but he was fine, thank goodness. The kids were energetic and happy to see him. They sang songs and this week we discussed why babies cry.

Crying is how babies communicate. I explained that babies have different cries depending on what is wrong or what they want. The kids seemed really receptive. I think they’re learning a lot and they’re so excited when he enters the classroom. I’m really glad I decided to do this.

When I was leaving, the principal of the school came out to meet me. She told me how much she appreciated what I was doing and how important she felt the program was. I didn’t think she had to come out and speak with me. It made me feel like I was doing something important. I hope that my son and I are helping the kids in that class.

Roots, Day #1 or Letting My Baby Be A Teaching Tool

Roots of Empathy is a book by Mary Gordan in which she talks about creating empathy in young children. Somehow, I am now participating in this program with my son. You can read more about it here. (If you do, you’ll probably know more about it than me. My children never let me get around to reading all the literature given to me.) Every three weeks or so, starting November 2nd until around the end of May, I will be bringing my son into a kindergarten class so that the children there can visit with him, ask questions and learn about his development.

I don’t know if I didn’t pay enough attention when this was explained to me or I was too busy try to soothe my infant while keeping track of my toddler or what was going on with me. I thought there was going to be at least one other mother in the class.  Nope, just me. Well I’m committed now and I thought that since this is based on a book and an interesting program so far, that I would write a little blog entry after each class.

This first class was basically a welcome class. The kids sang a welcome song to my son, it was super cute.  Then they sat in a circle so they could look at him and ask me questions. Much of this was practiced the week before. They asked what he could do and couldn’t do at his age (almost 4 months). We (the instructor and I) measured him, so they could see how much he grows from visit to visit. They wanted to know what he ate. It was a lot of talking and trying to sift through all of it to give them answers. Kindergarteners are crazy! Many of them are hyper and want to know everything and ask you the same questions ten different ways. I was only there for about forty minutes, but so much happened. Even in that time, I could tell which kids where the more outgoing ones and which ones were more shy. They all seem interested and enjoyed having the baby there. They even have a picture of him up in there class! It was cute and kind of fun. I’m looking forward to the next class.


(I know this isn't a ton of information, but it's all I have time for today.)