A Lesson from the Kindergarten Playground

Trouble in Paradise?

Boo had one of the wisest, most wonderful Kindergarten teachers ever.  Seriously.  Even her name was awesome.  Mrs. Safely.

Anyway, she had quite the rambunctious class, but handled it with amazing grace and poise.

One of the boys was a particular 'handful'.  He was one of those kids who was always referred to by his first and last name.  Probably because he was always in trouble.  For the sake of anonymity, let's call him 'William Smith'.

I had a babysitter who also sat for his family.  She was convinced the kid had Tourette's.  I think he was just 'high spirited'.

Anyway, Boo came home from school and was complaining that William Smith kept call him a Butt-Head.  He was (understandably) upset about it.

The next day, instead of dropping him off outside, I went into the room to talk to Mrs. Safely about it.  As I told her, my main concern was that Boo (with his impulse control issues at the time) was going to get so upset that he would punch William Smith in the mouth, and then Boo would be the Kindergarten felon all of the other mothers don't want their kid to play with.

She had a sweet smile on her face while I was sharing my concerns.  When I was done, she paused, then said, "Yes.  We share the playground with the fourth grade classes for our morning recess."

I thought to myself, "So?"

She continued, "Despite my talks with him, William Smith has been calling some of the fourth grade kids that same thing."

Again, I thought, "So?"

Her smile got just a tad bigger as she said, "I believe it will be a self-correcting problem."

Sure enough, a few days later Boo came home and (perhaps gleefully?) exclaimed, "William Smith got punched by a fourth-grader on the playground today!"

While I do not condoned violence, and strongly believe that teachers should do everything in their power to put an end to bullying, Boo was never called a Butt-Head by William Smith again.

There have been many times since then that I sit back and ask myself, "If I just leave this alone, will it be another 'self-correcting' problem?"  Not that I am the type of mother who is not involved.  In fact, quite the opposite, sometimes.  Still, it was a great lesson about letting some things just play themselves out.