Young, Scrappy, and Hungry (for Oreos)

Last week, I volunteered at the West Side Elementary annual lock-in to fulfill the rest of my hours. I learned two things: Children should not be given soda after 10PM and unicorn pajamas are really trending right now.

Most of my night consisted of handing out food. They brought in the younger kids to eat first, then the older kids, and by the time they were done, the younger kids came back in for a bedtime snack. I lost track of who was who, so I’m pretty sure I handed one kid like eight Oreos instead of cutting him off at two… But hey, I’m not their parent.

All in all, it wasn’t bad. It was hectic, but most of the kids were sweet and polite. I had to use my authoritative voice on some kids who tried to sneak past me, so that was fun. I didn’t know I had an authoritative voice. Anyway, it reminded me of the good ole days when I was a child, and the idea of being locked in my school for twelve hours actually sounded appealing to me. It’s great to work with kids and feed off of- I mean, be inspired by- their never-ending energy and optimism.