Rough and tumble play

On Tuesday night Priscilla attended an information evening held at the excellent childcare centre Blackfriars. The topic was children's friendships, emotions etc. An interesting observation was that exclusions to friendships are typical of this age group (3-5y) and that any criteria can be used eg. gender, clothing.. One of the mothers commented that her child grouped older rougher boys as "The Boys" and included younger gentler boys in her clique as "The Girls". Exclusions, inclusions are all questioned by the carers to make the kids think about whether it is fair to use these.

Also the carers mentioned that rough and tumble (R&T) play is essential at this stage of life. We have been concerned over the change in Abigail's behaviour towards a rougher robust play since starting kindergarten. Her initial weeks of bruised shins has not abated, but they are smaller and less frequent. She is learning the dynamics of how to participate in R&T play, how to keep from being hurt? Blackfriars commented that as long as all participants are smiling the adults job is to moderate and ensure no dangerous situations are created eg. types of holds, intensity of patting/tagging, removing any nearby obstructions ...

Abigail sometimes says things like: "we are running from X now (in our play)", "we are friends with Y now", "it is Z's turn to chase us". This is part of the R&T game. That explains the popularity of "What's the time Mr Wolf?" as we see children playing this every morning before the school assembly time.