It’s strange how an everyday happening in life can suddenly take you back, sometimes many, many years, to an earlier event. During a quiet moment a few days ago I was watching one of the 3+ LDs as she played in the kitchen area, serving pizza, toast and cups of tea.  Suddenly, in my mind’s eye, I saw myself at around the same age playing with a set of pink ‘china’ cups, saucers & teapot. I doubt very much the authenticity of the ‘china’ but I do remember the calm, secure feeling that the occasion provided.  I began to wonder whether or not our current Little Dragons will remember their time enjoying the fellowship they are presently experiencing after 65+ years have passed by.

I once read that children are incapable of remembering anything much before the age of 3 yet can remember several instances of my own early days:- sitting in my pram with the hood up and wearing a pink bonnet with a large brim – a sight for sore eyes I am certain; lying in my cot when suffering from measles and my brand new aunty, wearing bright red, shiny lipstick, leaning over the side as she cooed and goo-gooed at me – does one ever recover, I wonder;  threading coloured wooden beads onto a string on my first day at school – never forgetting the dreadful boy who cried loudly as he sat on the rocking horse on which I wanted a turn (I wonder if he still cries!); sitting at the teacher’s feet listening to age-old stories that I told to my own children and still tell.  I am not certain that these memories are character-shaping incidents in themselves but they, and other memories which fleet through the brain at the oddest moments, are part of the history of the person one becomes.

The point of my rambling is to wonder how much of what we are providing for our Little Dragon group will add to the characters of the little individuals who attend each week.  They are a lively crowd and it is interesting over the weeks to observe their developing ways of coping with the various and varied situations provided.  Often, in our chat before and after sessions, Senior Dragons mention observations they have made concerning the growth in personality, confidence, sharing, and co-ordination of motor skills both large and fine.  Given time it would be of great interest to chart the physical, emotional and intellectual growth in our little charges.  ‘Oh for the time to stand and stare!’ 

Val Butterworth