Our national hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal left us with a short but very striking line, “Ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan”. Do we give importance to this? Do we really believe in what Dr. Jose Rizal said? Are we doing something to become the role models for our future leaders? If the children are really the future of our county, are we really paying close attention in giving them quality education?
Here is our little share in making a difference for the coming future generation:
We had a very interesting experience in one of the Daycare Centers here in Venus, Sergio Osmeña. Days prior to our daycare center activity, we talked to Ma’am Escribano, the daycare teacher of Mamara so we could conduct a health teaching session regarding nutrition and proper handwashing. We are very grateful that she allowed us to use her class time. We went to Mamara Daycare Center on Nov. 29, 2016 at 9 in the morning. We planned on what activity to give to the children to stimulate their minds. We prepared pictures of different kinds of food which they will color. We searched for appropriate videos for them to watch regarding nutrition. The team also prepared snacks for the little kids hoping that it will make them participate in the discussion.
At exactly 8:30am of Nov. 29, 2016, we left home to catch a bus ride to Mamara Daycare. When we arrived at the Daycare Center, mothers were seated outside the room and we could see the anxious faces of the children. Sixteen (16) children were present during our daycare visit. It was a bit funny that a few children started crying as soon as we started the activity. Probably, they were shy or scared of new faces. Some students were actively participating, answering the questions being thrown to them and some were just quiet listening to what the other children had to say. The mothers outside the classroom started scaring their own kids, that if they will not participate we would inject them with medicine. It was a good scare but of course traumatic for the kids. The videos about foods were the highlight of our daycare visit. Videos of different vegetables: go, grow and glow foods and bahay kubo were shown to them. In the middle of the bahay kubo video, two other students started crying. We thought that maybe it was because of the pictures of the vegetables in the videos. Maybe they got scared of it. Luckily, Ma’am Escribano was there to assist us. After a little bit of discussion, we started the coloring activity. I saw on their faces how excited they got when they saw the coloring materials. The proper hand washing was also introduced to the children. We are hoping that they will remember what we taught them. We also posted posters on their room about the proper way of hand washing. We also took the opportunity to measure their height and weight for our malnutrition health plan.
With the visit we had, I realized that it was not really easy to be a teacher.
Teaching young students who cry and throw tantrums every now and then requires a lot of patience from the teacher.
Teaching young students who cry and throw tantrums every now and then requires a lot of patience from the teacher.
Our visit in the Daycare Center maybe short and our health teachings may be forgotten by the children. However, the main goal of our visit was to reach out to them, to their mothers and remind them that they matter. We want to make them feel that even though their children are still young, the process of learning should be started right away. What we learn from childhood will be carried on until our adult life. This would be the beginning of their never ending learning. Indeed, “Ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan”.
