Life is But a Dream

Soon after moving to the Bay Area, I decided that I wanted to use some of my free time to volunteer. After looking into several programs, I decided to fill out an application at the Children's Hospital in Oakland. The hospital was not too far from where we were living at the time and of all the various volunteer programs that I looked into, it seemed to be a good fit for me.

As part of the training, volunteers are "taught" how to wash their hands. While this may sound silly, doing so actually had a purpose. Turns out that many people do not wash their hands long enough to be effective. In order to address this problem, volunteers are advised to wash their hands, with soap, while singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat".

When G became old enough to wash his hands, I taught him to sing the song too. It was the only way I could come up with to ensure that his very dirty hands were not simply rinsed with water and then smeared against the towels. He now really enjoys washing his hands, even going as far as to tell me to "go away." He is a "big boy" now.

Here's G's version of Row, Row, Row Your Boat:

Row, row, row your boat
Gen-ly down the steam
Merry, merry, merry, merry, merry, merry, merry, merry, merry
Life is but a deam.

The song is usually repeated three or four times before he considers his hands washed.

-Francesca