Don't freak out, but I got fired on Friday..by a six year old. So now the story...I have a little one who steps on things or breaks things that don't belong to him. He doesn't seem to have empathy for others. So, I jumped at an opportunity. He stepped on a student's cookie that was left by the hallway bathroom after lunch. After I asked him why he did this, his response was, it didn't belong to anyone. (It didn't have a name on it.) Well, my sweetie had part of a cookie of his own which he had put in the snack bin. I looked in the snack bin, found the cookie part and mentioned to my guy that this cookie didn't have a name on it, so it must not belong to anyone either. I proceeded to stomp on the cookie. The look on his face...priceless. He was SOOOO mad! I asked him how he was feeling and he fired me. "You're fired!" Wow! We then talked about how it felt to have your cookie stepped on and how mad he must be feeling. We talked about how sad he must be feeling since he didn't have a cookie to eat. We talked about things you could step on and things you shouldn't step on. We talked about how everything belongs to someone, even if you don't know who. He then went to Music and I went to buy two new cookies. I never found the owner of the first cookie, but a co-worker played the part very well. My little dude then went to apologize with the cookie he stepped on and a new cookie to replace the crumbled one. When he returned, I apologized to him and gave him a new cookie. And...he left for the long weekend. What do you think? Would you ever stomp on a cookie? I wonder if it made the impact I was working for...or not.
Happy Memorial Day Everyone!
Cindy
I have a little one just like that in my class. Absolutely no theory of mind. Cannot put herself in anyone else's shoes. Yup. I would probably stomp on a cookie (especially knowing that I could replace it). And yup, I would probably get fired too! Hopefully something gets through to our little people so that they can get through life living in community with grace.
ReplyDeletesandi