Here we are, day two of Bear Breaks Colorado and it could not have gone better! We started our day by getting to the Children’s Hospital at 9am, it was my group’s turn to host a craft party in the lobby! I was slightly nervous about this because I am mainly just used to playing and interacting with kids, not their parents as well. In order to have a good turn out for a craft party, we learned that it was necessary to go up to families and try to “recruit.” This also made me a little anxious because I do not consider myself the type of person to be comfortable walking up to strangers and asking them for their time. After a few minutes of seeing kids and their parents walk by, I quickly became very comfortable and confident! I was going up to every child that walked by, and even going further into the lobby to see if kids had time while waiting for appointment to come craft. Throughout the three hours of being at Children’s, we had a steady flow of kids of different ages, backgrounds, and cultures.
When it came time to close up the craft party, I was fairly impressed in my newly outgoing and confident skills! I was completely expecting to not enjoy hosting the craft party as much as being in creative play and just interacting with the kids. Because of myself and my fellow bear breakers, we were able to meet and listen to stories of so many people from around the world! Not to mention adore their precious kids as well.
Another reason why I think today was so great is because I found out new strengths about myself, friends in my group who were strangers a few days ago, and how great it is to interact with new people of all ages, even if it was only for 20 minutes.