Mosquitoes and Lions
This week I decided to take a different tack. Instead of trying to coach Colin toward better behavior in school I posed a question to him.
Me: "If there were a pair of lions in the room, would you know where they were?
Colin: He paused, thought for a moment, and said, "Sure, so I can play with them?"
Me: No, I mean REAL lions. Lions that could eat you.
C: Another pause...
Me: Would you always know where they were?
C: Yeeees?
Me: Of course you would! You'd always pay attention to everything they did. You'd know exactly where they were and you'd hear every tiny sound they made. The first time. Because if you didn't they'd eat you!
C: smiling
Me: So from now on pretend your teachers are lions. You should always know exactly where they are, and if they say something you'll always hear them the very first time. Right?
C: Right!
<OK, so far so good. I'm flying by the seat of my pants, but I have a good start. Now to handle him playing with kids who don't seem to be the best influence.>
Me: What about mosquitoes? What are they? They're just pests, right? Not a creature you want to hang around with, right?
C: No! They suck your blood.
Me: EXACTLY! So Stanley* and Bob* are mosquitoes. Are you going to play with mosquitoes?
C: No.
Me: Are you going to talk to a mosquito?
C: No!
Me: Are you going to hang around with someone who is nothing but trouble?
C: NO!
<man, this is going better than I could have hoped!>
We then had a more detailed discussion about not telling the Lions and Mosquitoes that they were lions and mosquitoes. I did however give him explicit permission to blame this all on his mom. If the mosquitoes tried to talk to or play with him he has my blessing to say that his mom said he's not allowed to play with or talk to them, and he has to focus on his school work.
It hasn't been 100% effective, as he admitted to talking to Mosquito #1 and Mosquito #2 over the past couple of days, but on the plus side he hasn't been getting into trouble with them so I'm calling this a win.
Now I just need to find a way to ignore MY personal mosquitoes and keep an eye on MY lions!
======
*Not their real names - DUH!
Me: "If there were a pair of lions in the room, would you know where they were?
Colin: He paused, thought for a moment, and said, "Sure, so I can play with them?"
Me: No, I mean REAL lions. Lions that could eat you.
C: Another pause...
Me: Would you always know where they were?
C: Yeeees?
Me: Of course you would! You'd always pay attention to everything they did. You'd know exactly where they were and you'd hear every tiny sound they made. The first time. Because if you didn't they'd eat you!
C: smiling
Me: So from now on pretend your teachers are lions. You should always know exactly where they are, and if they say something you'll always hear them the very first time. Right?
C: Right!
<OK, so far so good. I'm flying by the seat of my pants, but I have a good start. Now to handle him playing with kids who don't seem to be the best influence.>
Me: What about mosquitoes? What are they? They're just pests, right? Not a creature you want to hang around with, right?
C: No! They suck your blood.
Me: EXACTLY! So Stanley* and Bob* are mosquitoes. Are you going to play with mosquitoes?
C: No.
Me: Are you going to talk to a mosquito?
C: No!
Me: Are you going to hang around with someone who is nothing but trouble?
C: NO!
<man, this is going better than I could have hoped!>
We then had a more detailed discussion about not telling the Lions and Mosquitoes that they were lions and mosquitoes. I did however give him explicit permission to blame this all on his mom. If the mosquitoes tried to talk to or play with him he has my blessing to say that his mom said he's not allowed to play with or talk to them, and he has to focus on his school work.
It hasn't been 100% effective, as he admitted to talking to Mosquito #1 and Mosquito #2 over the past couple of days, but on the plus side he hasn't been getting into trouble with them so I'm calling this a win.
Now I just need to find a way to ignore MY personal mosquitoes and keep an eye on MY lions!
======
*Not their real names - DUH!
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