| Playground Politics - Help Kids Make Friends | | | | Who were the kids who always seemed to be in |
| Teasing is universal, it is a fact of life. | | | | transition, adapting their personality to what ever |
| In my classroom when I ask any person if they | | | | situation or social group they encountered. You |
| were teased as a child the answer is always the | | | | may be able to name those people too. |
| same. Yes. Then I ask who they were teased by, | | | | Cafeteria Plan |
| there are a number of answers I get: siblings, the | | | | Kids know who is in and who is out and why. Ask |
| kid down the street, their teacher, or even their | | | | your child to draw the school cafeteria floor plan |
| family. People are always able to remember who | | | | (not grilling him/her for answers but just as an |
| teased or bullied them. The torment they | | | | exercise). Now, ask them to draw in the tables. |
| underwent as children becomes a part of them. | | | | As they are drawing ask who sits at each table. |
| Teasing can be friendly or malicious. | | | | Ask about the kids at his/her table. They will be |
| When we begin to look at the difference between | | | | able to tell you the different "in groups" and "out |
| the two, we realize that part of the teasing that | | | | groups." |
| goes on is done to find out where your hot | | | | Teach Likeability |
| buttons are. Teasing beings the process of | | | | Our goal as parents is to help our child find out |
| weeding out if two people are a good match as | | | | who they are as a person. We need to be |
| friends, if their interests are the same, and it | | | | concerned with teaching our children how to be a |
| actually acts like a mating game. Other people | | | | good friend, instead of helping them find friends. |
| have dubbed it Playground Politics. | | | | We need to teach our children how to be the kind |
| Playground Politics | | | | of person that other people are drawn to. |
| There is an absolute pecking order on the | | | | Questions For You To Share |
| playground. If I were to ask you to look back into | | | | |
| your past and think about who on that playground | | | | 1. How do you teach empathy? |
| was popular, who were the kids who were | | | | 2. How do you teach likeablity? |
| accepted, who were the ones who were | | | | 3. Do you model respect and kindness? |
| controversial? We are easily been able to | | | | 4. How do you handle conflict? |
| remember who those people were. | | | | 5. Does your child like who he/she is? |
| Do you remember the kids who didn't blend well? | | | | |