After the Love is Gone...

Here is a follow up from the last blog. It's Kees' class talking about what to do when someone is not friendly. Again, they have the basics down. We should all follow their lead.

From Debbie, Kees' Teacher - "At our second circle we observed that during outside time, people had heard their friends initiating play using the tools we had talked about yesterday of making friends. So the next thing to discuss seemed to be “what do you do when someone is mean to you or doesn’t want to be a friend?”. Many of the ideas were similar and went like this"

“You can ask someone else to play with you.” Aidan
ADULT TRANSLATION - "Whatever dude. I have lots of friends."

“Walk away.” Abby
ADULT TRANSLATION - Pretend you didn't hear them in the first place.

“Ask them why they won’t play.” Catherine
ADULT TRANSLATION - "What's your problem?"

“Tell your Mom.” Elliot
ADULT TRANSLATION - "Tell your wife."

“Go play by yourself.” Emily
ADULT TRANSLATION - "Take a little time for your self. OOOOoooohhh, SPA DAY!"

“Just walk away— but if they chase me I’d RUN away!” Eva
ADULT TRANSLATION - "Seriously I want to go to the spa by myself. I'll give her the wrong address. He he he"

“If a friend is not nice, walk away or play with another friend.” Fiona
ADULT TRANSLATION - "Sorry to hear that. Ahhh, I have to go." Then secretly call another friend, "I'm free for lunch!"

“You can walk away and play with another person.” Josie

“I can play by myself.” Kees
ADULT TRANSLATION - "A good book and a nap. YES!"

“Walk away.” Luke

“Walk or run away. Say, “OK, I don’t really want to play with you.” Maia
ADULT TRANSLATION - "What's your problem?" Turn and walk away and then pretend to answer your cell phone, "Awesome! That sounds great! I just became available and that sounds better then my last offer. Ha ha ha."

“Ask them “Why?”.” Nicholas
ADULT TRANSLATION - "Why?"

“Sometimes people aren’t always nice. My sister’s not always nice, but she’s nice a lot.” Owen
ADULT TRANSLATION - "Gawd she's moody. Sometimes we're inseparable and other times she's totally psychotic."

“I don’t know. Nobody walks away from me. Everybody likes me. “ Sebastian
ADULT TRANSLATION - "Dawg, I am so popular I don't even know what you're talking about. Have you seen me? Everybody loves me. And boy, do I have the touch with the ladies. You know what I'm sayin'? he he he Yeeeeaahhh, bro'"

“Walk away.” Sunil
ADULT TRANSLATION - "Whatever!"

“When that happens it makes me sad. Then I walk away. I do something else.” Trinna

“Sometimes my big sister walks away when I ask her to play. So then I just play by myself.” Truman
ADULT TRANSLATION - "I swear she's deaf. Oh well, I have stuff to do."

“You can tell the teachers. You can get help with the problem.” Violet
ADULT TRANSLATION - "I don't get it. I guess I have something to talk to my shrink about this week."

So that is what the little people have to say about friendship. You may want to bookmark this page so you'll know what to do in difficult situations with friends. Or, you con consult with a 4 year old in your life. They often are able to get right to the crux of a situation. They don't mince words and because they don't have years of muck in their heads they only see what is basic and important. So take it from a bunch of 4 year olds and stick to the basics.

Smile and assume that like Sebatian, everybody likes you..... Why wouldn't they?