tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15932919.post7456153090021359978..comments2024-03-26T07:07:14.304-07:00Comments on Teacher Tom: Touching And Being TouchedTeacher Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14606781724784785338noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15932919.post-41841211901110521522013-01-28T22:05:25.238-08:002013-01-28T22:05:25.238-08:00We don't provide toy weapons, but of course, l...We don't provide toy weapons, but of course, leading a group of 3-5s means that something turns into a weapon at some point. Honestly, it never bothered me much before.. When a child did say they were afraid of it we just worked with that child on their fears, empowered them with vocabulary and confidence-building activities [ie. more jobs to do = independence = confidence], and made sure the other kids only played weapons [or anything else] with friends who wanted to play that way. We talked a lot about effective words we could say when in an uncomfortable situation. What our crew came up with was, "I want to play with you, but I don't want to play that way." We then discussed a variety of choices people could make, [play a new game with a different friend, wait for weapon game to be over, or ask weapon-game players if they'd like to play something else together] and talked about how we respect peoples' choices.<br /><br />I was happy with how we were handling it, finally feeling like there is some sense of balance with this approach.. then Newton happened. And I wondered if this was the "right" answer. <br /><br />This sort of play isn't easy for any of us to watch- even when all the children are laughing and enjoying it together. Yet, banning gun play doesn't sit well with me either. I thought of it for a moment, even though arbitrary restrictions go against every fiber of my being.. and I wondered- Who would really be benefited by banning gun play? Certainly not the kids.. was it just me? Did I really want to impose new arbitrary regulations on others simply because it made ME uncomfortable due to my unfortunate associations with guns??? All while teaching children coping strategies and supporting children in facing their fears- which they bravely did even though they were so anxious about standing up to a friend for the first time?? "I can't believe it. I'm a #%@&ing hypocrite."<br /><br />I realized this literally 6 hours ago while the 5 year olds were shooting "intruders" [aka Salamanders] who were trying to enter their "cave of crystals".<br /><br />In this moment I made a decision. I shouted, "I am the Giant Salamander and I eat crystals!!" and I "shot" at all the children with fists full of grass and chased them around until the parents began to arrive.Elle Mnoreply@blogger.com