Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Problem Solved


We've had a "problem" in the 3-5's class these last few weeks with gun play.

If it were up to me, I'd allow gun play at Woodland Park, with certain restrictions, such as only aiming at people who are also playing the game and having to stop if someone is scared, but it's not up to me. The Woodland Park 3-5's class makes its own rules and they always ban guns, real and pretend. (For a complete and hilarious list of last year's rules, click here.)

I tend to deal with this conflict between my own opinions and the group consensus by turning a blind eye toward gun play that is self-contained, but lately we've had a couple of younger guys prowling around the place, weapons raised, faces fierce, leaving no doubt as to their intention. On Monday, they had chosen a pair of long sticks as their surrogate hardware. When their friends pointed out this clear violation of the rules, they dropped their weapons and, for the time being, we were back to being a weapon-free zone. But as long as there are young boys around, the threat of re-arming is just a found stick away.

An example of "approved" stick play

Later as I admired a particularly deep hole in the sandpit, Max informed me, "We're burying all the weapons." And sure enough, upon further inspection I saw that the hole was only secondary to the real project. A group of the older guys had collected all the stick they could find, mounded them in the sandpit and were shoveling sand onto them. "Then we're going to blow them up with a bomb."

Problem solved.

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8 comments:

Cathy @ NurtureStore said...

Fighting fire with fire hey? I don't think we've heard the end of this.

Saya said...

LOL!
So what would be the bomb to blow them up?
Soooo funny, I appreciate this very much :)

Play for Life said...

Hey Tom considering I only have one week left of kinder after a very long and busy year, a good laugh is exactly what I needed this morning. Thank you!
Donna :) :)

LauraFaerie said...

Tom, I have been following your blog for the last six months, it has helped keep me inspired while I finish my Early Childhood Diploma...which I did! Thanks heaps.
We have accreditation at our centre today and I have been nervously having my morning coffee....then your latest post cracked me up, again, thanks :)

Deborah said...

Hahaha! From guns to bombs - now that is progress!

Barbara Gini said...

This is a great post! As a mother of 2 sons, (Now grown) this made me smile! Thanks :)

Cara said...

As a mom to a three year old boy that is ALL about guns right now, I found this so funny! My husband and son could spend all day playing with nerf guns, but it's something that drives me crazy. However, I can't exactly put my finger on WHY since it is all completely innocent on my son's part. He's only 3 after all. I love your rules about guns: only aiming at people who are playing the game and stopping if someone gets scared. Maybe my husband and son (team pro gun) and i (team anti gun) can find a compromise! :)

If we lived near you, I'd be doing anything I could to get my son into Woodland Park!

KidsPlayUnplugged said...

Just goes to show you,boys will always be boys. Thank God for that. Bob T,www.kidsplayunplugged.com