By: Terri Rowley
We sometimes say that life is a three-ring circusโand if we are being honest, most days we are both the performers and the clowns.
There are schedules to keep, appointments to remember, emotions to navigate, lunches to pack, relationships to tend, and a thousand invisible things that somehow need to be held in the air at the same time. Foster families know this particular kind of juggling well. There can be beautiful moments of connection existing right alongside hard conversations, uncertainty, grief, transition, and the daily work of helping a child feel safe.
But perhaps we have been looking at the circus the wrong way.
Maybe the goal isn’t to keep every ball in the air.
Maybe sometimes the most important thing we can do is put the balls down and play.
Recently, we hosted a school kickoff where families were invited to come pick up school supplies and prepare for a new school year. And, as you might imagine, the children had a very different opinion about the beginning of school.
โBOO!โ was heard loud and clear.
Apparently, summer had been much too short.
So we decided that perhaps the first week of school deserved a little more delight.
We created one more round of funโa chance for families to come together after the backpacks were packed and the first-week nerves had settled.
More than 100 people showed up!
Thirty-seven bright, generous volunteers became our helping hands, passing out purple cotton candy, popsicles, prizes, smiles, and a little bit of permission to be silly. Children of every age bounced, played, painted their faces, and watched fresh cotton candy turn into something magical.
Our cluster facilitators traded their usual roles for a little while and became ringmasters of joy.
And for a few hours, nobody needed to accomplish anything.
Nobody needed to process anything.
Nobody needed to be brave.
They just needed to play.
For foster families, those moments matter more than we sometimes realize.
