December 8th, 2005 4:46 PM
From: Fairlie Arthur
To: contributions@michaelmoore.com
Sent: Saturday, December 03, 2005 4:22 AM
Subject: A wise head on young shoulders !
Hi,
Just wanted to share this story...
Yesterday in the playground at work (I work in a child care centre) I watched as a group of five children played a game, running away from a child with special needs. This particular child loves chasing other children - so he did not realise that the children were infact being quite hurtful. "Ahhh here he is - run away" the children would scream, and run as fast as they could away from him.
I slowly approached, wondering how I could make the situation more inclusive of this child. As I got a little closer to the children I heard one child (5 y.o.), who is usually quite shy, say to the others "It's not very nice to run away from other kids - we shouldn't play this game any more." I did not wait to hear the reaction from the other children. Instead, in front of all the children, I praised this child at length for speaking up against something that didn't feel right to her, saying how hard it was to do this sometimes, but how very important it was. A broad smile slowly blossomed on this child's face. I said to the children how I felt sad when people ran away from me. I suggested that the children all run together and off they all ran, squealing with delight.
Later that night, at the end of year get-together, I shared this story with the little girl's Mum, saying again how special it was to speak out for others when you felt they weren't being treated right. Her Mum was delighted and again the lovely smile blossomed on this child's face.
I hope, by recognizing and encouraging this special strength within this child - that her sense of decency may grow and blossom, just like her smile !
Regards,
Fairlie Arthur
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