3 Year-Olds & Being Rough

How To Play Rough
I teach 3 & 4 year-old students. I find wisdom, laughter, and other things in the many things that they do.

You can view this entry in my official blog to read more about it.

I recently learned how to play rough with the boys.

One of the boys (Alvin) was trying to teach one of the girls (Jane) how to hang and swing from one of the bars on the jungle gym. It is one of the higher bars on the jungle him. this is how the conversation went.

Alvin: (He swung from the bar to show her). Just swing like this, it's easy.
Jane: (With a scared look on her face). I can't do that.
Alvin: Yes, you can. Just do it. It's easy.
Jane: No, it's not. It's hard.
Alvin: Just try it, you can do it. (He swings from the bar again to show her how to do it.)
Jane: Uhh uhh, I can't. (She looks like she is about to cry.)
Alvin: If you want to play with the boys, you have to play rough. You know boys play rough.
Jane: But I don't know how to play rough.
Alvin: Well, this is how you play rough. When you get hurt, you don't cry. Like this. (He hits his hand hard on the pole.)
Jane: Oh ok.

Alvin said, When you get hurt, you don't cry, so profoundly, that it stuck in my head for a long while.

Jane never swung from the monkey bar, but I think she learned something important, not to cry so much, especially if you want to play with the boys.

Playing with the Boys
Playing with the boys in my class is fun. Most of time are very active, like to run, have great imaginations, and will make you laugh.

When I have played with them, I have had so much fun. I end up getting tired quickly though. Plus, they play too roughly. They hit. They kick. They crash. They throw hard. It is amazing to watch them play because they are learning and discovering things about the world and themselves everyday. They insist on showing and telling me what they can learn or do. I hear, "Mrs. Boone, watch this, 30 times a day." There are times when it gets frustrating because I have 4 children trying to get me to watch them at once, but it is exciting to see them do something new.

The girls like to play with the boys at times. It's fun to try to see the girls do something that they have seen the boys do. Most of the time, the girls can duplicate the activity. At first, the boys play with the girls as if they are girls. After awhile, the boys tend to forget that they are playing with girls or they just get tired of playing softly and get rough. The girls end up getting hurt and running over to me crying.

What I've Learned: Just Listen
I have learned a lot from the students that I teach. (I think that is what makes a good teacher great, you learn from your students while they learn from you.)

You can view this entry in my official blog to read more about it.

Many times, when the children get hurt, they come running over to one of the teachers crying. We try to calm them down and then check to make sure that they are physically ok. Most of the time, they are.

I have noticed something. Most of the time, they just want to tell someone what happened. One of them will tell me something and then, after they finish, they walk off from me, without ever getting a solution to their problem. When they are telling me their problem, it seems like it is life or death, but after they have said what they needed to say, they walk off.

I have also noticed, that I can be looking at them when something is happening, and they will still come and tell me what happened. I can even say, "I saw what happened," but the child still wants to tell me.

I have learned, that sometimes, you just want someone to listen to your problem. They don't have to help you out. They don't have to give you an answer. You just want someone to hear you.

Many teachers get disconcerted with 20 children walking up to you trying to tell you something. It used to frustrate me as well. I have changed my thinking on this. Now, I let them come up to me and tell me what is on their mind. I smile at them and then they are on their way.

I think we forget this lesson as we grow older. Once we gain a little knowledge; we want to share our knowledge with everyone who asks us to listen, whether they ask for advice or not. We forget that sometimes, people just need us to listen. They don't want help. They don't want advice. They just want someone to listen to them. We need to practice listening more these days.

I am trying to do that more and more these days. I get a lot of practice, weekdays, 9-5.