GOLD RUSH

      Spoiler alert. This is a teacher story.

      In education there are many different philosophies  that come and go. Anybody remember the open class concept? Remember the pods? Pods were supposed to limit the number of different teachers kids were exposed to. 

     Well, our school was organized into pods and it worked quite well. The pod I was in had four gr seven classes. I had an assignment of three language arts classes and one math and some options.

    We got the idea that we would take all 120 kids out for an all day field trip. We decided to take them to Fort Normandeau which is a nearby heritage site on the Red Deer River. . This  was where the first white people came to the area. At that area you could ford the Red Deer River. You could walk across, ride your pony across or drive your horses and wagon across. 

     Today there has be development on the site so that there is a credible museum of western history, theater, replica of the old fort and stopping house. 

    We divided the kids into groups and assigned them activities to take part in. Of course , being teachers we made them record what they learned and thought. 

    One of our caretakers had the hobby of gold panning. Small amounts of gold have always been found on the Red Deer river. Glayde got gold pans from the club and showed kids how to pan for gold. Kids did find the odd fleck of gold or bit of gold dust. I can still see their faces today when Glayde showed them that they had a tiny piece of gold. Of course, we had not prepared the kids to take small bits of gold back home so there was some stress until we found some envelopes.  . 

    Of course , we had a big hot dog lunch and in the afternoon we took four bus loads of very tired and dirty kids back to the school. 

    This is just one part of the complex. This is a replica of the original fort and trading post. 

HOW DID WE SURVIVE?

     Today we talk about free range kids. My kids, who grew up in the 70's and 80's, think that they were sort of free range kids. They look back and are happy with the freedom they had.

     For my growing up in the 40's and 50's free range involved much more . There wasn't much supervision of kids on the prairie farms as Dad's were busy farming and Moms were just plane busy with house work and many other things.

    So, as well as being free range kids we had freedom with no supervision. Stuff was not locked up so we were drawn to guns. Now most farmers at that time had a very small rifle. Hunting wasn't done so big rifles were not around.

    So it didn't take long before we started playing with guns. The shells were easily available on the farm. The storekeeper in town would sell us shells. 

   So the playing began. Hitting a stalk of grass was cool and you had bragging rights. How far your bullet went in a 2 x 4 counted. Tin cans were great targets. Seeing how far your bullet would travel was another pass time. 

  So there were usually 5 or 6 kids together. We had no instructions about gun safety and we really weren't supposed to have the guns. With that many kids running around , I can't believe someone wasn't hurt. 

   Taking a small tractor on new ice and applying one break made the tractor spin. We were all riding . Did we think of falling off? Never. Again it was dangerous with no parental supervision or permission.

   So I often look back to those days and say "How did we ever survive?"

   So this photo shows the culprits. Here are two sets of four brothers. We are cousins. We were the only kids in the district. We'd grown up since our gun days except for my little brother who now is about 70. 

The Debate About Managing Kids

      When my daughter was here a few weeks ago we got on one of her favorite tops...micro managing kids. Of course, she doesn't have any kids.

     Most of her conversation is that her parents did not micro manage her and she didn't get into any trouble.This is true. She could wander around within for or five houses even as a preschooler. Mom and Dad only knew were she was in a general way. She was predictable so we knew where she would be. As  she got older she went further away and for longer times. It's one of the things she is thankful about that she was not on a tight rope and learned through her experiences.

    It got me thinking about how I was raised and one of the accidents I got into. My  bother and I  were the definition of free range kids. We lived on a farm and my mother had two smaller children and was not always able to supervise us. She was happy that we could be occupied in play so that she had more time for the two younger kids.

     One day we had an accident right in the house. Mom had a set of drawers in the bedroom that were five high. My brother and I decided that we wanted something out of the top drawer. We were too small and short to reach the top drawer. Since we were free rangers we could always figure out some solution. We said, " Let's pull out the bottom drawer and if we stand on it we can reach the top drawer." Simple plan?  We both stepped on the drawer. The whole chest of drawers tipped  over  pinning us against the bed. What made it worse, was there were two old lamps on top of the set of drawers. These lamps  had glass chimneys so there was quite a clatter. There was a four year old and a five year old under the set of drawers yelling their heads off. Mom had another toddler and an infant to look after. So she was frightened as to how she would find her little screaming boys. She got us out from under the drawers and then the clean up started. We probably got something else later on that made us holler again. It also made us think twice about some of the silly plans we made.

     So part of my point is that even if kids are tightly supervised they can easily get into trouble. It only takes a second for kids to act. 

     My brother and I may have got into the odd accident , but we certainly learned independence , judgement and caution  by being free range kids.

    So I really hate to see kids micro managed and I see that these kids have little opportunity to learn from experience. 

    Before I retired from teaching you could see children coming who had little life experience and they were having difficulty dealing with other kids and their own independence and responsibility

    I really wish I had a picture of being pinned under the set of drawers!.

Communication with Children

    Since all the years of my career were spent with children , communication with children is extremely important. There's no one right or wrong way to talk to children...there are many ways. Each child is different as each adult is unique and so there will automatically be variations. 

    Basically all we have to do is focus attention on the child and make sure that we are speaking to the individual. We are talking to a human being so just because the person happens to be a child doesn't mean we have to change from our normal pattern of speech. Sometimes we see people using exaggerated baby talk to communicate with little kids . It may be cute and fun but the kid doesn't learn much when things are dumbed down.

    One of my favorite short stories was about a boy who went to the store with his Dad to buy a pair of shoes. The clerk talked to the Dad and the Dad relayed the clerk's message to the kid. When the kid answered he spoke to his Dad and his Dad relayed the message to the clerk. It's a well told story and is a good illustration of what not to do. If anybody knows this story , tell me the author and a title as I can not remember them. 

    We don't have to over simplify our speech. Speak to the kid's level. Kids know when we're dumbing things down and we lose some credibility 

     Sometimes we have to catch a kid's attention. Most people yell and they do get the kid's attention but the yelling raises the stress level so, you have the kid's attention but have increased the stress. A stressed conversation usually doesn't go well. Patience helps. Take a deep breath. Lower your voice an octave. It usually catches their attention and doesn't cause any side effects. 

    Talking to kids is sometimes a challenge that increases our stress and things can get complicated in a hurry. I know. I've been there. I just know that if you can discipline yourself the conversation can be beneficial and fun. I like talking to kids on our street. It's always a pleasant part of my day and I usually learn something in a very interesting way.

ALF LIKES COOKIES

     I've told stories before about Alf, my 5 year old neighbor.


      Two evenings ago the doorbell went bing,bing, bing,bing !!!! When that happens we know it's Alf . My wife was the only one home and Alf had found a screwdriver in the alley and was wondering if it was mine . Of course, my wife wouldn't know if it was my screw driver or not, but since she knew I hadn't been working in the alley she told him it likely wasn't mine.


    I have a brick house . Alf was outlining a brick with his finger and he said, "You know this is just like a cookie!" My wife asked him why he thought it was like a cookie . He said it's like a cookie but it doesn't have the pink or brown stripes . She still couldn't get the drift of what he was trying to say . He finally said it's like those cookies you gave me one time . Do you have any ? Now she caught on . She had given him cream wafers about a year ago .


     So his method of asking for a cookie was most skillful and crafty . He didn't get any cookies , but the next day my wife gave him an ice cream cone . Now I suppose he'll be asking for ice cream . He's an amusing kid to have for a neighbor.

ALF HAS FUN!!!

     Last weekend May 16-18 was a long weekend. So my neighbor took his five year old son Alf camping . Now I've written about Alf before and he puts on quite a show.


     They went tenting . On Sunday evening it began to snow and on Monday it snowed very heavily. Needless to say, Alf and his Dad returned home by Monday noon . Did Alf run into the house to get warm ? Of course not! Alf was running through the deep snow in his yard having all kinds of fun making trails in the snow .


     So I guess it's all from your own perspective as to what you enjoy . Obviously Alf was oblivious to the cold and enjoyed playing in the snow while I was being a wimp staying in the house and missing all the fun.

Alf

    Four year olds make interesting friends . Four years old you say? There ought to be a law against them !
Okay , there are four year olds and then there are four year olds . There are all the ranges of four year olds as you would find in any adult age group of say forty nine year olds , twenty year olds ... So we will find four year olds who are nice , nasty , humorous , talkative ,loving , energetic or any variety of human characteristics . There are as many different little four year olds running around as you would find in any adult age group .

     I guess I happen to be lucky as a four year old stays over night with his Dad a couple of times a week and they live next door to me . When Alf comes he looks to see if I'm out in my yard and he has to shout a friendly greeting and ask how I am . He listens to my response and reacts appropriately . Sometimes I tease him and say I feel really lousy and he almost cries . Next , Alf wants to know what I'm doing and if he can help me . Alf questions everything I do and wants to know why it's being done . You can see the wheels turning in his head as he processes and digests the information . He especially likes to help me wash the car . He says he likes cleaning things so he sprays water over the car and rubs an area until he thinks it's clean . One time he dropped the hose on the ground and the handle hit just right so that the hose began spraying . It hit Alf exactly in the face and took his Flames cap off . At first I thought he was going to cry . Then he looked surprised and then he started to laugh . Alf thought that he had put on quite an amusing show and didn't mind that he had got his clothes wet .

     Alf is rather cautious and doesn't want to say anything which would offend me . Alf watches lots of movies at his mom's place . I wanted to know what were his favorites . He likes action movies . So I pressed a little further and asked if he liked Dora the explorer. No, he didn't watch Dora . That was it ...no comments . I asked why he didn't watch Dora . He replied rather vaguely . Then I decided to be more direct and asked if Dora was more for girls . His face lit up and his head nodded vigorously ...yeah, Dora was for girls. He had tried to be very diplomatic in case I liked Dora .

     One day I was cutting grass and Alf wanted to know if he could watch me cut grass . I really didn't want him around a lawn mower so I said if he sat in a chair he could watch me . This was fine with Alf and he sat tightly in the big chair until I stopped the mower and then he exploded off the chair . I thought wait minute buddy! I said sit in the chair. However , before I opened my mouth I realized his interpretation of cut grass . Okay ,Alf you win . I emptied the grass bag into the compost box which came exactly to the level of Alf's nose . He had to closely watch me empty the bag as if he'd miss something exciting and then I heard a voice "It stinks !" . I guess it would stink if your nose was at the level of Alf's That day I got a very precise opinion of compost.

     So each day's visit from Alf brings the unexpected , honesty and curiosity which makes me rethink my actions and so them through very curious young eyes .