Watch D.O.G.S

I spent the entire day at my son’s school as a WatchDOG yesterday. (D.O.G.S., by the way, is “Dads of Great Students”).

Watch D.O.G.S. is an initiative of the National Center for Fathering that gets dads (and step-dads, grandparents, uncles, and other father figures) involved in their kids’ schools. You can find a link for Watch D.O.G.S. here.

I was greatly impressed with the program. And, honestly, I loved my time at the school. After a brief orientation video, WatchDOGS are put to work. At various times throughout the day, like most WatchDOGS, I did all of the following:
- Assisted students arriving at and leaving school by car or bus.
- Patrolled hallways and school grounds.
- Visited several (assigned) classrooms and helped teachers.
- Hung out with kids at recess.
- Ate lunch with my son’s class.

Here are some of my more memorable moments of the day…..

I tutored four 4th grade girls on subtraction problems. I saw the light bulb come on for one girl as she finally “got it” and then I watched as she was able to help another girl get it, too.

I played multiplication bingo (quizmo) with a classroom of 3rd graders. I sat at a desk by four other students and was able to help each of them learn how to use their multiplication charts to find answers. I kept whispering to my group of students that I was going to win one of the games. 2 of the students in my group won, but I never did. They giggled at me. The classroom yelled “bye” and waved at me as I left.

I assisted a class of kindergarteners working on their paintings in art class. Before they got started, the teacher instructed them to walk by me like a robot – with their arms stretched out – so I could put a smock on them. One little boy looked up at me as he walked by. He didn’t say a world, but he was clearly humming the Star Wars / Darth Vader theme music as he walked by. That made me chuckle all day.

Dozens of students shook my hand, gave me a high-five, smiled, and/or said “Hi WatchDOG!!!” in the hallways as we would walk by each other. (As a WatchDOG you wear a WatchDOG t-shirt so everyone knows who you are.)

One little boy ran into a bigger boy at recess and hurt his chin. He wasn’t injured, but the pain was bad enough he was having a tough time not crying in front of the other boys. I walked over and kneeled down to check him out. Since the tears were starting to well up, I kinda hid his head at my side while I told the other boys he was fine and they should go play somewhere. He composed himself, gave me a big “THANKS!” and then ran back off to play again.

5 or 6 girls used my legs as “base” while they played tag. I nearly fell on all of them. Twice.

One little girl grabbed my hand at recess and said, “I wish you were my daddy.” I was a little startled, so I asked her why. She hung her head a little and said, “because my dad never comes my school.” I wanted to pick her up in my arms to give her a great big hug and tell her that her daddy probably can’t get away from work to visit the school but that he loves her very much anyway. I refrained because that just didn’t seem appropriate. And it may or may not have been true. It drove home to me just how much kids want their dads to be involved in their lives.

One kindergarten boy was wound up during my time with him. You would have thought he had straight sugar for lunch and then chased it down with a couple of Mountain Dews. He nearly made me want to call in sick for my next WatchDOG day (in May). Seriously, he was bouncing off the walls. If he wasn’t talking, he was making weird noises with his mouth. If he wasn’t doing karate chops in the air, he was practicing for his career as a contortionist. He could not be still or quiet. And when I told him to settle down or “shhh,” he just looked at me in bewilderment like I was some Martian speaking gibberish. He frustrated me to no end. When I got home, I told my wife about him. Since she has volunteered at the school, she knew who I was talking about. She described how one day he said to her rather matter of factly, “I hate my dad. He’s a drunk.” That was like a punch to the gut for me. I have a whole new perspective on this boy, and I feel badly that I wasn’t more patient with him.

As a whole… it was an incredibly rewarding experience. The administration appreciated another pair of eyes and ears around the building. The teachers appreciated another pair of hands in the classrooms. The students appreciated the extra attention from someone’s dad. My son was proud to have me around.

And I’m hooked.