Three boys were playing in the homeliving center. Two boys (I think they were the "children") were cutting pretend vegetables and bread. The other boy (the "parent" possibly) kept using the telephone. He would create a barrier for privacy for his conversations.
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| Sorry about the blurry photo. He kept moving and this is the best I could get. |
The two boys kept disagreeing on things. Where the vegetables or fruit should go. How to cut. What the arrangements should be.
The "parent" boy would talk with them and then head back to his phone. I watched for a few minutes, just trying to make sense of what was happening.
The "parent" boy put aside his phone and came to the table with the other two. "Rules have consequences," he said seriously. Then they began to whisper among themselves.
I had to walk away (so my amusement wouldn't interrupt the play). His statement...and its inflection...obviously was mimicking someone. (It wasn't me or Cindy. That's not a sentence we use.)
But, as I thought about the incident later, I pondered learning consequences. Consequences are important for kids to learn. Not necessarily consequences of breaking rules...although that is something they learn.
Kids must learn is consequences of decisions. That can be decisions and choices of behavior. But I'm thinking about consequences of decisions and choices every day in the classroom.
If you choose to play with the vegetables, fruit, and bread throughout activity time, the consequences are you don't get to paint or build or write. And that's okay.
I've had kids tell me, I don't have a painting...I didn't get to play with the cars...and so forth. And that's the consequences of choices. You get to do one thing and don't get to do another. Important lessons to learn. I think I know some adults who need to learn this lesson.
