Entry #29, 30 November 2009

While I was in the kitchen preparing drink bottles, L'e ran to me, grabbed my leg and shouted with a big smile, "Mark!". He then started saying what sounded like "Marky Marky!", perhaps in response to the way he is usually called L'y D'y.

The children seemed unusually unsettled today. In particular, B'a cried a lot, and even requested that I carry her. When K'm saw this, he too ran to me crying and requested to be carried as well. Even F'n was a bit cranky today, and he's normally perfectly cheerful.

The cold weather didn't help. Despite freezing temperatures, the children were still sent for outdoor play, and some even said things like "Cold! Go in! Go in!".

I was asked to try and get S'r to sleep today. Normally when a child is being put to sleep, they are placed on the bed and "patted off". They're not permitted to get up off the bed; if they do so, we either verbally request that they lie down (which they usually comply with), or we lie them down ourselves. This method wouldn't work with S'r.

S'r's normally very calm, in fact he's outright cheerful. However when he doesn't get his way, he throws a tantrum, screaming and kicking about, and he's rather big and strong. It seems S'r didn't feel like sleeping yet, so far half an hour, it felt like I was wrestling with him. At one point he even crawled under a table, and latched on VERY firmly with his hands and legs. After an exhausting half an hour, I was told to just leave him be, as he clearly wasn't going to bed.

Moving Forward

The children's daily routine normally follows a schedule, so that their can be some consistency and also so they can get used to things, but surely there should be some measure of flexibility. It would be rather subjective though.

It's clear cut when many children are saying they're cold and want to go in. But what if it's only one child? Or if a child says he doesn't want to do whatever it is everyone else is doing, i.e. sit at the table, eat, listen to a story?

S'r's behaviour is probably enforced by the fact that he's normally allowed to do as he pleases, as long as he stays in the same room as the other children, and he's not thrashing the place. Therefore he's not used to not getting his way, and reacts accordingly. He also seems to have his own schedule apart from the other children, which depends upon his mood. It's at times like that, it is apparent why some children require 1 to 1 attention.