BE ACTIVE!
All things in moderation…
(It’s a shame Vine video can’t be embedded within a blog post)
Son: I’m going to be very sad at the end of sports camp this time.
Mum: Why?
Son: Because there’s no wristbands, medals or trophy now – they don’t do that anymore.
Mum: Why don’t they do that anymore?
Son: Because the Coach has got a boss now and he says, “Don’t give out wristbands, medals or trophies at the end because it wastes too much time!”
Mum: Oh dear. And do you think they should carry on giving them out?
Son: Yes, because it’s a good thing for children.
Mum: Why is it a good thing?
Son: Because there are people who haven’t got them yet – like James – it’s not fair for him, he hasn’t got anything – no wristband, no medal, no trophy, nothing. They don’t do any of it now, and he just REALLY wants a wristband, a medal or a trophy! What I really want from there is a wristband.
Mum: Do you try harder if there’s wristbands, medals and trophies at the end?
Son: Yes, we have to work REALLY hard if we want to get one. In the olden days when I didn’t get anything I worked SO hard and I didn’t get anything so I just gave up – I just worked normally. Until eventually I found out that I still wouldn’t get anything, so I gave up from working normally. Then one day I decided to try again and that’s when I got a medal. And then the next time I tried even more and that’s when I got the trophy.
Mum: And how did you feel when they said they weren’t going to give them out any more?
Son: It shocked me so much that I felt angry to hear the news that they didn’t give out wristbands, medals or trophies anymore and to this day, I am still a little upset. I gave up being angry though, because the more you’re angry the less things you’ll get – do you know that?
Mum: That’s true. So, do you work hard when you go to sports camp now?
Son: Now it doesn’t matter if you work hard, because they don’t give out trophies or medals anymore.
Mum: But DO you?
Son: A little bit.
D: Can I play on Temple Run today?
Me: It’s up to Vikki, if she’s OK with it, then so am I – but remember that people come first.
D: I KNOW people come first… but I don’t know what it means.
Me: It means that, if you’re playing on a game and a real person talks to you, you must LISTEN to that person. And, if they say you have to stop playing, you have to stop playing. Without getting angry. And, if you have a choice between playing with friends or playing by yourself on a game, you should choose playing with your friends.
D: And I know what you can do so you can listen – you can DIE on the game!
Me: Yes – sometimes people choose to lose on purpose – and that’s OK.
D: Yeah, so you don’t do it by accident… You DO lose points though.
[We’re now trialling a week without monster games, following a spate of nightmares about monster creatures and broken nights]
D: What does it say on that big piece of paper?
Me: ‘Your Ground Rules’
D: What does that mean?
Me: It’s the rules that the school children wanted to make when I was doing the speaking work with them.
D: What were their rules?
Me: One was that they wanted the group to all turn their phones off. Another was that they wanted the group to tell the truth about what they thought of each other’s speeches, but to be nice about it. Another was to be quiet and listen…
D: We have those rules at my school!
Me: What are your rules?
D: Be Safe; Be Kind; Be Helpful; Tell the truth; Listen – No, they don’t start with ‘be’ – every rule has to start with a ‘be’. But there IS a listen one, that starts with ‘be’.
Me: Be a good listener and be truthful?
D: Yes!
D: We didn’t know who the captains were for PE today. We usually have two, three or four.
Me: Oh. I suppose it depends on what games you play as to how many captains you need.
D: Huh?
Me: Different games need a different number of teams. So that would mean a different number of captains.
D: No. It depends whether you’ve been REALLY good – sometimes there’s four people that have been REALLY good, sometimes three, sometimes two, sometimes one – no, not one – two, three or four.
Aly was sitting out today and he said “I’m going to be captain.” I said, “I don’t think you are, because you have to sit out.”
Me: Why was he sitting out?
D: Because he’d done something extremely not good.
D: Eth-word. Eth-word. Eth-word.
Me: What did you just say?
D: Nothing. I said it to myself.
Me: What did you say though?
D: Nothing!…
Mum, what’s a swear word?
Me: They’re naughty words. Who’s been talking about swear words?
D: My teacher at school said we shouldn’t use swear words, but I don’t know what they are.
Me: Good – then you won’t be using them.
D: But how will I know if I’m using them if I don’t know what they are?
Me: Hmmm…
[To be continued]
Me: Hurry up and get dressed, Dylan!
D: You can’t control me y’know!
Me: Where have you got that from?
D: Well you can’t – are YOU my body?
Me: No, but your ears need to listen to what I’m saying and your brain needs to understand that if you’re naughty, Santa won’t bring you any presents.
Me: OK, let’s see if I get presents! I’m hurrying up now.
Homework from school: make a model about goodies and baddies for their display. Sept 2012
D: The baddie [left] looks SCARY and he’s got a spider on him and fangs and big ears and three legs and I’ve drawn a monster on the back.
The goodie’s [right] smiling and I’ve drawn a balloon round the back, and a sweet for me and a sweet for you.
Me: Why did you behave so badly this morning?
D: My brain controls me. I can’t help it!
Me: You CAN help it – change it!
D: What, my brain? Take a bit out and put another bit in?
Me: No, but you can flick a switch to think in a different way.
D: Actually, there IS a switch! Every time I roll over, it knocks the switch and my brain thinks different ways. There’s four ways:
1. Being nice
2. Being bad
3. Playing nicely with people and not rough
4. Fighting with bad people
…I’ve just put the bad one in the rubbish bin in my head. So now there’s only three ways.
D: Here’s an important matter;
How we should behave at school,
You should never ever ever kick, punch, smack,
And never make someone cry because you’re being so rough,
And you should definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely never ever punch someone in the… willy!
– It’s a song that my teacher taught us today and we’re going to sing it EVERY day!
I didn’t believe it or understand what it means before, but I understand what it means now.
iwantmarbles 