Here is the O man busy at work with Orion lurking behind.
Orion going in to push the water button. That kid in the grey shirt was kind of managing all the little ones (it was pretty crowded) and doing a great job of it for his age.
Sometimes he would physically move the younger ones instead of talking to them, but overall he was a refreshing surprise. He announced he was leaving for a short time at one point, and as he was walking away I asked if he actually liked hanging out with all those little kids, and he said yes, he was like Tom Sawyer LOL. Another mom told him how great he was with them, and he said, "Yeah, I have intuition." Seriously, that is one of the cutest things I have ever heard a kid say!Big Brother
Little Brother
It was a really interesting day at the park. On the way up the trail, I decided to talk to Orion about conflicts since he had some issues there last time. I asked what ideas he had about when two kids want to play with the same thing. The automatic reply: "share". So we talked about the difference between sharing and taking turns. I told him the hard thing about taking turns was deciding who went first. I mentioned that you could use a game to decide and all of a sudden wondered if he was ready for Rock, Paper, Scissors. I explained the concept and showed him the hand symbols. He seemed interested but couldn't get the idea of doing it at the same time. Also when I told him to think of which thing he wanted to do but not to tell me, he kept saying which one he picked. So maybe not getting it yet....At the park, there were so many kids all working in the sand area, and most of them were boys. I was staying close to Orion as he enjoys destroying what other people build, and it was fascinating to listen to all the dynamics going on. I am working on letting Orion handle his own situations, but it is difficult at a public park. I don't know the temperment of the other kids or how they will react. I don't know who the parents are, or how they will react. And then there is the decision about when to limit Orion based on my prediction of how much his actions will upset the other child and/or their ability to handle it on their own. I also find it hard to stay out of other kids' business if they are getting into a conflict, but I usually don't interfere unless something hurtful is happening. I did open my trap at one point when one boy was having an issue with another. 95% of the kids were working on building a sand wall to channel the water, but one kid wanted to make a tunnel in the water.
Boy 1: Repeatedly asks Boy 2 to stop.
Boy 2: Silently ignores him
Boy 1: Raises his voice as if Boy 2 can't hear him or understand
Boy 3: Makes comment about how Boy 2 is 5 years old, as if to say he can understand just fine
Boy 1: In very snotty voice, "I don't care how old he is. He doesn't listen!"
Me: "I'm sure he can hear you just fine. He just wants to do something different."
That was all I said. I thought is was pretty "sportscastery" of me. I hoped they would take it from there. And amazingly, Boy 1 left him alone after that. And grey shirt boy tried to suggest some ideas. Yay kids!
And then Akasha did alot of this when we got home. :)
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