The children heard about how he got sick, and that while he was in the hospital he decided to help other people who were sick too. They watched a video where they heard him speak in his own words and they watched him run. We talked about how he was feeling on his long run. The children also learned- gently- that Terry Fox died and wasn't able to finish his Marathon of Hope.
Themes of sadness and death are something we so often want to protect our children from. After all, they will experience such things all too soon. Yet kindergartens are often curious about it, and they ask questions to help them form an understanding of their own lives and those of others. We feel it is important to honour their wonderings and to respect their questions and thinking about death. While it's not a fun subject to teach, the story of Terry Fox's life is a good opportunity to carefully begin that conversation.
Terry's story is also an opportunity to share how goodness can be gained from sadness- the silver lining in every cloud. Because of Terry's sacrifices, many lives have been saved.
The children were eager to make a poster sharing Terry's mission, and they had a lot of fun marching around the school yard to celebrate Terry's accomplishments. We hope that events like this will inspire our new generation to also think big and to generously give to those less fortunate.
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