Category Archives: Children

Twitterpated

Posted on March 9, 2012 | 1 comment
Twitter

Image via Wikipedia

Okay, so the first time I heard the word twitter was probably as a little girl when I watched the movie, Bambi.  You remember…Bambi, Flower and Thumper were watching all the animals fall in love in the spring and Flower and Thumper were becoming twitterpated because they saw some other animals like themselves and they fell in love.  Do you remember that Bambi was disgusted and didn’t want any part of it?

Well, when I first heard about Twitter I didn’t want any part of it because who really wanted to know my every movement.  But as I’ve gotten more and more “tech savvy”  I see where this is a good tool to have especially for the school.  I’m still not there for my personal use yet.  Not sure I’ll ever get there.  But Aloma Methodist ECLC is on Twitter.  We’ve become Twitterpated.

So, follow us on http://www.twitter.com/AlomaECLC

See you around Cyber Space!

Barbara

1 Comment

Posted in Children

Tagged , , , ,

Take a risk!

Posted on March 2, 2012 | Leave a comment

Have you ever just sat and watched children.  It is very enlightening.  Now, don’t go doing this in an obvious way.  You may just be picked up by the police and have to explain yourself.  But if you can, try to observe children and pay attention to what they do and say.  Children are just like adults in that they want approval for the things they do.  But they aren’t born that way.  It has to be learned.  As parents and caregivers we have the incredible responsibility of teaching the children in our care how to behave and how to respond.  There are good ways and bad ways to do this.  I believe children should be taught to be respectful, to say good morning and to learn appropriate manners and they can be taught these things.  But then I also see children who can’t or won’t draw a picture or try to make a creation in the art center.  And I immediately know which children are taught what is right or wrong when using their creative minds.  Actually for children, there is no right or wrong about being creative.  If they want to draw a picture of a person and put the ear where the chin is or the eye where the nose is or use feathers when making a lion’s mane and yarn when creating a  bird, what’s wrong with that?  But you say, that’s not how you draw a face.  How will they learn where the nose and eyes go?  Well, I’m going to be blunt here, but as  a child grows if they don’t know where the eyes, nose and mouth are on a person then that child has bigger problems than drawing a picture.  Do you know any child over the age of 2 who can’t tell you where their eyes, nose and mouth is?  I don’t!!  And I work with children all day long.  It pains me to see a child try to draw and stop and look up to the adult in the room to see if what they are doing is “correct”.  What’s correct when you are using your creative mind?  No one told George Lucas that there isn’t really such a thing as a Wookie.   Or a space ship that can destroy a planet or a little tiny weird looking animal who trains people to become Jedi masters.  And what is a Jedi master anyway.  There isn’t such a thing.  But if the adults in George Lucas’ life had told him that he couldn’t create those things we wouldn’t have the wonderful Star Wars story in which we can lose ourselves in the fantasy world of space travel.  Allowing a child to be creative involves that child taking a risk to see if the adults he loves and trusts in his life will let him. So, teach your child how to be polite to others and how to greet people and the rights and wrongs of social interaction but let em loose to be the creative being that God made them.  They just may be the next George Lucas or the next Mother Theresa or Picaso.  The sky is the limit.

Barbara

Leave a comment

Posted in Children

Tagged , , ,

Pondering on cows

Posted on February 18, 2012 | Leave a comment
two cows

Image via Wikipedia

Just around the corner from where I live is a pasture with several cows in it.  Every year around this time all the baby cows start being born and I love to watch them as I drive by.  There used to be a big dirt pile on the property and I noticed several times as I drove by that the baby cows would climb up on the hill.  And one day it looked like the cows were playing king of the hill because one cow was sort of trying to push the others off as they tried to climb up.  It looked like they were playing.

Today as I drove by, all the adult cows were congregated in one area and the baby cows were over in another area and I frequently have seen that.  But today it made me start to think about that.  Even cows gravitate to their own kind.  The young cows were with their friends maybe talking about who was going to be king of the hill today and the adult cows were all over probably mooing about adult things.

Have you ever noticed that about people?  People who are alike gravitate together.   If you go to a party people usually search the room for someone they know or have something in common with because it’s comfortable.  Mingling with people you don’t know is hard.  I have to force myself to do it because it doesn’t come natural to me.  Oh, I know there are some people that are good at it but I don’t think it is the majority.

The exception to the rule is children.  Try watching children for a while.  Yes, children are drawn to other children but they also go up to strangers and people with disabilites and people of a different color than they are or who don’t speak their language.  They are taught to be afraid of strangers.  They don’t do it naturally.  They aren’t afraid of people in a wheelchair until someone shows them that they should be.  That happens around age 4 when they start to be a aware that maybe they should be afraid.  Yes, again there are exceptions to this but again I don’t think that is the majority.

So, as I watched the cows and started thinking about this I thought that since this isn’t natural then I would have to work on this area more often to make it become more natural.  It’s good to meet new people and it’s good to be able to invite someone on the outside to come into the circle.  We have to be intentional about it.  But the first step is admitting that we aren’t good at it and acknowledging that this would be a better way to be and then start practicing and mooooooving forward. I’m going to try to be better at this.  I’m going to try to let the children lead me and become childlike, not childish but childlike.

Wow, who thought cows had so much to teach us.  Yeah, cows!!

Have a great day!

Barbara

 

Leave a comment

Posted in Children

Tagged , , ,

Let’s Buck the Rules!

Posted on February 10, 2012 | Leave a comment
"Rules and Regulations...Threshing Commit...
Image via Wikipedia

We had a visit from the Fire Marshall today.  Our annual inspection.  Just to assure you, we passed.  But it got me to thinking about rules and regulations.  I know we have to have rules and regulations and there are many good reasons for having them.  But I also have experienced rules and regulations that inhibit or stifle things.  Let me give you an example.

One agency that we are accountable to requires handwashing all day long…when the children come through the door, before and after snack, before and after playing in the discovery table, before and after going to the playground, before and after they leave their classroom and go to chapel, etc.  And I could go on.  But if we followed all of the rules of handwashing the children would spend 1/2 of their day just washing their hands.  Because remember, we have to multiply that time for handwashing by the number of children in a class.  So ten children washing their hands at the same time is 10 to 15 mintutes every time.  So, you get my drift, right?  This rule is a rule that was meant to have the children develop cleanliness habits and instead has snowballed into something out of control.

So, when do rules and regulations become a strangle hold on our lives?  I think we all have to take a look and determine that for ourselves.  There are many rules that I have to uphold in the Preschool and have no choice but to follow or I might get a fine or be closed down.  But then again, there are rules and regulations that I have a choice to follow or not.  And I have to weigh those and decide whether the quality or our school is enhanced or hindered by those rules and regulations.  Are they helping the child?  Does choosing not to follow them compromise the safety of the children or the health of the children?  I have to excercise my judgement at those times.  When that happens I usually discuss it with one or 2 other people and then come to a decision about what our center will do.   I may do some research on it to make sure that my decision is based on good information.  And then I respectfully make a decision to not follow the rules.  Is that a bad thing, not following the rules?

I don’t think so.  People are not all alike.  Preschools are not all alike and to try to make us all conform to the same thing is, in my humble opinion, ludicrous.

So, there you have it.  My thoughts for the day.  Ponder on this for you and your family.  Or for you at your job or club or church.  Here at the Preschool we try to help the children learn to be creative and to be individuals and think for themselves.  Let’s not forget how to do this as we grow.  Ask questions, try something different, buck the rules.  But do your homework first and get wise counsel.  Then break the rules and celebrate freedom!!

Have a great day!

Leave a comment

Posted in Children

Tagged , , , , ,