I have one child in my care that appears to 'have it all'. He is very indulged. His parents can afford this, it is a conscious decision that they have made. And this is their life.
When a person has an abundance of belongings, things start to lose their value.
One small example of this, is this child's lack of interest in taking care of some of the basics. Granted, we are in a season where you could need 3 different jackets to get you through the day. The jacket you needed in the morning is not a necessity by recess and by the time school is finished, you could be in shorts. So shedding these extra layers and not really needing to find them at the end of the day to be warm enough to go home, is natural.
What I did find interesting was his complete disinterest in caring about or looking for these lost articles of clothing at school. This week, I had the luxury of having no other children here. So I went to the school with him to look through the lost and found and his classroom to try to find a few of these missing items of clothing. In his locker right in the classroom, there was a jacket on the bottom. The teacher picked it up and asked if it was his. His immediate and end all answer was ''No.'' It was exactly as his mom described to me and she had written his initials on the tag. So I checked. And it was definitely his.
But he had no interest in claiming it. 'Things' are easily replaced. He had it for such a short period of time, he didn't recognize it. Each day as his jackets went missing, they were replaced. A jacket is really of no personal value to a child in a lot of cases. But I thought it was rather sad to have such a small sense of caring when it came to something that belonged to him.
When things come easily, have little personal value to a person and there are no repercussions to losing them ... it devalues them. I am not a strong believer of placing a high amount of value on material belongings. But I do believe in placing enough value on what you do have, to respect that someone took the time and money to buy it in the first place.
Not everything is easily replaced. I think that learning to value some of life's smaller things helps to teach a small lesson in the whole scheme of things.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Another Summer Behind Us
Summer holidays are nice ... but it is always good to get back to the fall routines. Even though the routines change from year to year in the childcare world, it is nice to fall back into a day that is predictable.
I think the kids are ready for school by the time it reconvenes as well. I believe that they thrive on structure, routine and challenging themselves at school.
The biggest challenge to me, in the daycare world is keeping a wide variety of ages equally entertained. 'Free play' seems to encompass all ages and stages so that is what our day largely consists of. Going to the park is another thing that works - everyone can play at their own level. Whether it is simply playing in the sand or climbing on age/size appropriate play equipment, I find there is usually something for almost every age at the park. They can run, play, holler and just let off kid-energy. And this is good.
As the kids are all heading off to school, I think that they are excited to be in among their peers, doing what is challenging and fun for their age group. Not to be held back by 'the babies', who limit what they can play with and what they can do when they are at my house.
I would like to incorporate more learning (in a fun way) into our days. An opportunity for the kids to have fun and learn without even realizing it, is what I'm after. I used to have a 'toddler' computer game that had songs, counting, letters and all sorts of learning tools on it, I found that the little ones that watched and heard it were learning unconsciously. Then out of the blue, they would sing a song that they had to have picked up from this program. When the older kids played hide and seek (and counted out loud), once again I would hear the counting from their game eventually echoed in the voices of the ones just learning to speak.
Kids are like little sponges and the more educational things that they are exposed to, the more they can absorb.
As I find myself in a house with a lot of 1 to 2 year olds (turning 2 to 3 year olds) this fall, I would like to find age appropriate ways for them to absorb some knowledge during the day. As my world is now filled with younger ones, close to the same age I can do my best to expose to opportunities to learn.
A new season ... a new approach.
I think the kids are ready for school by the time it reconvenes as well. I believe that they thrive on structure, routine and challenging themselves at school.
The biggest challenge to me, in the daycare world is keeping a wide variety of ages equally entertained. 'Free play' seems to encompass all ages and stages so that is what our day largely consists of. Going to the park is another thing that works - everyone can play at their own level. Whether it is simply playing in the sand or climbing on age/size appropriate play equipment, I find there is usually something for almost every age at the park. They can run, play, holler and just let off kid-energy. And this is good.
As the kids are all heading off to school, I think that they are excited to be in among their peers, doing what is challenging and fun for their age group. Not to be held back by 'the babies', who limit what they can play with and what they can do when they are at my house.
I would like to incorporate more learning (in a fun way) into our days. An opportunity for the kids to have fun and learn without even realizing it, is what I'm after. I used to have a 'toddler' computer game that had songs, counting, letters and all sorts of learning tools on it, I found that the little ones that watched and heard it were learning unconsciously. Then out of the blue, they would sing a song that they had to have picked up from this program. When the older kids played hide and seek (and counted out loud), once again I would hear the counting from their game eventually echoed in the voices of the ones just learning to speak.
Kids are like little sponges and the more educational things that they are exposed to, the more they can absorb.
As I find myself in a house with a lot of 1 to 2 year olds (turning 2 to 3 year olds) this fall, I would like to find age appropriate ways for them to absorb some knowledge during the day. As my world is now filled with younger ones, close to the same age I can do my best to expose to opportunities to learn.
A new season ... a new approach.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)