Our Story About Being Friends
Leo and Ducky were playing outside. Leo and Ducky are best friends. Ducky pushed Leo. Leo says, "You're It!"because he doesn't want Ducky to hit him anymore. And then Ducky says to her Mommy Ducky, "I pushed Leo." Leo says to his Daddy that he pushed Ducky. And then the Mommy of Ducky put her in the corner.
Then Leo and Ducky go on a picnic and Ducky says, "I'm sorry." She says, "Do you want to play with me?" and Leo says "Yes!" Ducky says, "Let's play princesses because we're girls!" No, Leo is a boy. "Let's play prince and princess." Then Ducky says, "Leo, do you want to play with me?" And Leo says, "No!" Then Leo is say "I can play with you?" And then Leo says "Yes." Leo and Ducky play the piano. And then they all be nice...all of the Moms and Dads and the sisters be nice and then they all hug their pets. Then she said, "I love you, Leo!"
P End.
This sounds like a 4-year-old story. Am I right?
ReplyDeleteLearning to live with the other people -- exclusion, inclusion, friendship, respecting the personal space of others -- is something that takes a lifetime. Fiction/drama are great places to start working on it.
I wish more preschoolers had adults in their lives who were as thoughtful as you, Allie. Too many adults seem to stop at just making rules.
This is a group of children of whom the youngest turned four last week, and the oldest is 5 and a half. We really are working through those classic issues and struggles you listed, and drama gives the children a chance to say what they want to in someone else's voice. I think you're right about the rules too, Tom - it goes much further than "You can't say you can't play", doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteRight! How many times have the kids tried to invoke "you can't say you can't play," when, in fact, there are hundreds of good reasons to leave someone out, at least for the time being?
ReplyDeleteI tend to think of rules as statements of intention: we had to make a rule because this is where we are failing to treat one another the way we wish we could/would. I'm an anarchist at heart. I genuinely believe that humans are capable of living together in a companionable way without hard and fast, black and white rules.
I don't mind starting with rules for the 2 and 3-year-olds, but by the time they're 4, I like to start showing them the exceptions to the rules, the gray area, the place where rules really can't go, which is the stuff of how we live together. In the end, it always comes back to the only rule that matters, Golden Rule. The rest, to me, is mere commentary, but most of us need the commentary to get there.