What are little boys made of?
What are little boys made of?
Slugs and snails
And puppy-dogs' tails,
That's what little boys are made of.
What are little girls made of?
What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice
And everything nice,
That's what little girls are made of
The author of this classic nursery rhyme obviously hasn't been watching my daughter and her peers at play in the village playground after school this week! I don't know if its something in the water or tiredness or what but its been quite nasty out there when they are supposed to be having fun.
There has been name calling, teasing and from my daughter even spitting going on. It's involving various girls aged from 6-8 who seem in pairs or individually to being nasty to others. Normally it is a pleasant place to spend some time after school (weather permitting) as the parents/grandparents can sit and chat safe in the knowledge that their children are safely playing around them. Now some parents are avoiding the place and I'm thinking about not taking my 2 for a bit (especially as my daughter seems to be in the middle of most of the argy bargy...).
The question is "is just a short phase" and the girls will naturally stop soon? Or are we going to have to develop coping strategies and preventative measures to nip it in the bud? My daughter is generally a lovely girl but sometimes she loses the plot and I have to remove her or find ways to punish her behaviour. The spitting thing is something of a recent development and one that definitely needs to be stopped now as its not only disgusting but distressing to lots of people.
I'm not saying that the boys are perfect but they seem to have a minor spat and then are friends again very quickly! They seem to vent with with a short burst of physical violence but not the names and hurtful words the girls use.
This is definitely a very stressful parenting time and I hope for my sanity its short lived! What sort of strategies have been successful for you as parents?
Amy went through a terrible spitting phase and we ended up having a social story devised for her. It did encourage her to stop but unfortunately, she's started again. I know her autism has a lot to answer for but I can't blame everything on that.
ReplyDeleteCJ xx
Girls can be far worse than boys so my friends tell me who have boys. Our school had to start friendship groups to stop the psychological warfare in the playground. It works for a while, then another group kick off. Individually though, they are lovely, just don't seem to be able to cope collectively. Good luck! x
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