Video Reflection

The longer I work at Step by Step, the more impressed I am by the organization. It has done a wonderful job of allowing teen mothers to connect, and the children I have worked with have a great time. Four weeks ago, one of the girls I was helping watch took it upon herself to restyle my hair into quite a tangled mess.

Jamaria ties my hair in knots

Some of the others learned hangman for the first time, while still others colored beautiful pictures and told me about their days.

Maia draws pictures as well as coloring them.

All of the girls and boys there had energy and enjoyed all the extra attention that was showered upon them. 

Link to video on Youtube

The video describes my experience the past couple of times volunteering. Even though I have technically met my requirement for service hours, I will continue to go back for this semester. The kids notice when someone doesn't show up, and it's important to them that we aren't just coming for a grade, but because we care. 

My Lil Buddy - Video Reflection 2

By: Phyllis Elizabeth Holloway 

In this post you will find a video reflection based off of my previous Step By Step volunteering experience. It seems like each time I go I just fall more and more in love with these kids. I absolutely adore spending time with them, and I cannot wait to go every other week. Also, this video will show me going through that caterpillar I mentioned in my first blog post... Maybe this will give you a better idea of how hilarious I look while playing with these kids.

As explained in this video, sometimes these kids take a little time to warm up to you. The kids aren't too hard to fall in love with, but sometimes we have to give them a little time to fall in love back! We are more than happy to give them this time. I am so excited to continue working with these kids and hope my 'lil buddy' is there every week!

Video Reflection 2

          Working with this organization has been an amazing experience and it has taught me how important it is to have a caring family supporting you through your life.  It has also showed me how important it is to be able to have a type of child like wonder and love for the little things in life.

Video Reflection 2

Each time I have volunteered at Step by Step, I have come to know each child more personally. They have given me a fresh outlook on poverty, since I have seen past the facts and statistics often given to the real lives of real people. 

Poverty has a different face for me now. It is a real-life issue, and it affects people I know. The names, stories, and personalities of these children have altered my view.

The room where I serve and play at Step by Step.

Written Reflection 1

My second time volunteering at Step by Step started out a lot like the first. After sitting around for a while with no kids showing up in the 5+ room, I started to worry that none were coming. Eventually, however, two rambunctious boys showed up. They proceeded to devour more food in a meal than I could eat in a day!

Figurative representation of how much the boys ate

Although the boys were energetic and did not particularly enjoy the attention showered on them, the evening looked to be fairly calm ... until a volunteer showed up, breathlessly announcing that more  workers were needed in the infant room. I volunteered as tribute, and was ushered into a room with four one-year-old babies crawling around a single teenage helper.

Once children reach the age where they can talk, I am good at working with them. I can read them stories, sing them songs, and teach them games. When they're at the age where they only stare and crawl around and cry at the drop of a hat, I do not do very well with them at all, mostly because I have so little experience with them. Despite this, I determined to give my best effort. I smiled and crawled in.

How working with babies makes me feel

At first it was strange, but gradually the crawlers took notice of me. They crawled over, and I picked them up when they cried. They laughed and laughed when I knocked a block off my head.  By the end of the night, I no longer felt like a monkey in Antarctica. One-year-olds are no longer so frightening, and I know that I helped them to have a good night. They helped me more, however, by teaching me the importance of facing my fears - no matter how small - in order to do good.

Future Wildcat? -Written Reflection One

by: Phyllis Elizabeth Holloway

Step By Step is an invaluable program for the young mothers and children that allow the organization to transform their lives. I have volunteered twice with Step By Step and I have already fallen completely in love with what this program is doing. During one night of our time there, the mothers each received a rose. This showed me just how much this program understands the need to show these young mothers how much they are loved. They may not have received this kind of love much before, but you can definitely count on Step By Step to show them and their children an abundance of love. 

Here are the roses with a bit of encouragement attached.
Here's the link!

My first week volunteering, I spent my entire two and a half hours with four and five year olds. We spent the time playing together while vividly imagining that we were locking up the cowboys in jail and marching around them to keep the rest of the town safe. The imaginations these young children have give me hope, and I hope these children continue to have these bold imaginations where anything is possible.

In my time of volunteering, most of my time has been with older children; however, the baby room was highly understaffed and I was recruited to help them out. Being an only child, I have yet to change my first diaper. When I was recruited to go to the baby room, I thought, "Oh boy, today's the day." I made it out alive, and I still haven't changed that first diaper. Baby steps. 

The walk to the baby room was a little nerve-wracking. I was so nervous I would have a child that would not stop crying, and that I would feel absolutely helpless not knowing what the child needed or wanted. Thankfully, I was taken to a little play room and I got to play with a young boy around one to two years old. He was so dazzled when I showed him the basketball hoop. I first showed him how the ball would go into the hoop. Then, it was his turn. He continued to put the ball into the hoop and cheer with me, giggling at every move we made. Changing from working with four year olds, this was so strange. Not being able to verbally communicate with the child was a new experience for me, but I think I learned as quickly as the young boy. In my time at Step By Step I may have created a future Wildcat basketball star.

You're welcome, Big Blue Nation.
Here's the link!

Written Reflection 1 -- The First Two Weeks

As my title suggests, I've gone to serve at Step By Step for two weeks now, and this past week was even more fun, exciting, and even a little bit more overwhelming than the first. It started off slow. Once again, I was in the baby room, and we had about 6 or 7 volunteers. It was the perfect amount... for the previous week's number of children. Two babies were dropped off at the beginning and here was a large lull before we got another, putting us into a false sense of security and having us joke around that we would be fighting over who got to hold the ones we had. Not too long after, we were hit full force by wave after wave of incoming baby: a tidal wave of cute.

The baby I watched napped for a solid 30

I suppose that it would have been even more frightening if we hadn't also been hit by a wave of volunteers coming to our rescue (and we needed them... the babies may have outnumbered the initial volunteers 2:1). For every extra baby that came into our room, another volunteer would magically appear to come and save the day so everyone could focus all of their attention onto one child. If you've ever worked with babies, you know that this is what's needed. And our advisors did know this. 

Our fearless leader, Tanya Torp

That's one of the things I've noticed and loved about Step By Step. The people in charge are so well-informed and knows exactly what to do and when to do it in order to maximize the effectiveness of everyone's work and help the mothers in the best way possible. They know how to provide care in more than just the obvious ways. This efficiency makes accomplishing their mission even easier. 

And what is that mission? Of course, it's to provide care and love for single mother's as they try and get through life when they might have no one else to help them get through it. Step By Step helps single mothers escape the clenched fists of poverty and even works to reduce the stigma against single mothers in our society. From what I've seen, it's working.

Written Reflection One

by Cara Cox

          Having now gone to Step By Step two times I have been able to get to know the children a little more.  I have worked with the newborn to one year old children.  Some of them are so small and fragile.  While holding them you can hear their little heart beating and you know that with each beat they are growing up.  Even after just two weeks there were noticeable changes in the babies.  They  got bigger, grew more hair or were crawling better than they were only a couple weeks prior.  It is amazing how much one can change is such a short amount of time.  

Growing up can happen in a blink of an eye

           Being away from their children while they have to work or go to school must be very difficult for the mothers.  They must miss some of the milestones in the babies life and have to hear about them from someone else.  While the mothers are missing their children, the children are also missing their mothers.  One thing I have noticed is how attached to their mothers some of these children are.  Some of the children have a hard time letting go of their moms while they go to their meetings or small groups.  

           

            When I see the sadness in the children's faces when their mothers drop them off, it makes me realize how important it was that their mothers love them and do their best to give them a happy life.  I know that when I was little it was always scary to leave my mom and do my own thing.  But, for most of them they can handle being away from their mothers after they settle down a bit and start playing with the toys and other children.  Our job for two and a half hours every other Thursday is to give the children a enjoyable time to play and have fun.  It can be difficult to calm some of them down but once we have done this we can have fun with the children.  

           To the left is a picture of one of the little boys I help take care of at the meetings.  I love being able to spend time with these kids and hopefully they enjoy coming and spending time at Step By Step.  When we get to the church where the meetings are held we need to put all of our worries and stresses out of our minds.  We need to give the children our full attention and focus entirely on them.  We are able to be a part of their lives and watch them grow up even if we only see them twice a month.  Our job for this organization is to keep the children safe and happy while their mothers are at the meeting so they are able to have some time to themselves.  The mothers were not able to have their entire childhood, but we want to give their children a chance to have an amazing childhood and a bright future.