Mistakes

Every day I make mistakes. Whether it be a small math error on my homework or forgetting to call a friend, I make mistakes all the time. I have learned that sometimes it’s ok to laugh at yourself about things like mistakes.

An instance like this recently happened at Special Gifts Theatre. At the end of class yesterday, I was helping Billy put his coat on. Of course, Billy and Joe (his twin) did not bring matching coats that day. I picked up Billy’s because it had his name in it. Joe’s mentor grabbed another coat that resembled the one I had picked up, since they both had orange on them.

Another boy in the class, Tom, usually talks to the twins a lot and laughs with them. He is usually hard to understand when he is laughing. It was really interesting, however, because he was standing directly by Joe at the end, pointing and laughing. No one in the class could figure out what was so funny.

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When Tom’s mom came to pick him up, she asked where Tom’s coat was. He walked over to Joe again and started laughing. His mom began laughing as well and told us that Joe had put on Tom’s coat instead of his own! The whole room filled with laughter, including Joe. He apologized for the mistake and everything was fine.

Watching this happen, I realized that Joe was not embarrassed or sad at what mistake he had made. In fact, he thought it was hilarious! He taught me something that day. It turns out to be better if you laugh off a mistake rather than dwell on it for a long period of time. I have decided to try laughing off my simple mistakes from this point forward thanks to Joe.

Adapting

In one’s lifetime, everyone has to make adaptations. Whether it be learning to get along with a sibling, accept how much homework a teacher will be assigning everyday, or dealing with new friends at a new school. Everyone makes adaptations, on a small or large scale at some point.

Special Gifts Theatre is not exception to adaptations. There is a large variety of kids with special needs that attend the program. Some kids need to be pulled aside for speech and have their lines changed to help them shine when they speak. Others require extra help focusing on the class.

Billy has a few things that need to be adapted to meet his needs. For one, he needs a scooter to help him get around. One thing that happened last Tuesday was adapted to Billy and really helped him in choreography.

My class was practicing the choreography for the Hand Jive with another class. Billy is a really good dancer, but has a little bit of trouble keeping up with the dance. He is usually one step behind everyone else. While doing this dance, one of the teachers came up to us and offered a suggestion that he tries doing each movement for a longer period of time but a fewer count. Every person would do each movement in the hand jive four times and at a faster pace, while Billy and I would do each twice and at a slower pace.

This adaptation was not a big deal and really improved Billy’s dancing. He was on beat with everyone else and I could tell he was happy with the huge smile stretching across his face.

My point is that having something minor being changed to fit the need of someone is not a big deal and can make a big difference. By slowing down the dance for Billy, his movements were really improved. It was not a huge change to make and it resulted in a better outcome for Billy.

Just like taking a kid out for speech or learning to get along with a sibling, making adaptations can turn out for the better and don’t require much in the first place.