Caution Children At Work

Caution Children At Work  

 

Be Prepared to Stop

Driving home the other day I came upon road construction and these two signs in this order:

 

The following week this memory came flooding back only as:

Caution Children At Work 

 Be Prepared Stop!   

I was watching a young child who I assumed to be under a year and half  learning what her fingers could do.  She was pushing her french fries around her highchair tray.   

Without noticing what her daughter was doing the mother picked up all the french fries and pile them again in front of her.  

Her mother I am sure thought she was helping her daughter.  

However when the mother did this for the third time she started to cry sweeping the fries onto the floor.   I wanted to hold up my signs. 

Caution Children At Work

Be Prepared Stop

Children may appear to be to be engaged in meaningless play and as adults we assume that in interrupting their activities we are doing no harm.     

Play for children under the age of five years and for all children generally is an intense process.  They are engaged, physically, emotionally and intellectually and it is always purposeful: children learn through play.

They play with shapes to see how they feel, fit together, taste, are made and how they can recreate them.  They are experimenting.  This is an intense activity involving all of their senses, dexterity, and concentration.

Caution Children Work

Be Prepared Stop

Stop and:

1.      Watch

2.     Appreciate the complexity

3.     Praise and encourage

4.     Advance their work by removing obstacles or adding small challenges

5.     Model overcoming frustration

6.     Encourage imagination

7.     Support choice and decision making

As parents and grandparents it is important that we understand play within this context.  

So the next time we find our children playing.  Spend sometime determining if our need to (fill in the blank) is as important as the experiment that is being conducted in front of us.

For me the test will be how long can I tolerate toys, puzzles and blanket tents taking over my living-room.  

Grandma Snyder

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