It's not 'Postive Reinforcement'. Dammit.

This is part of what one of our managers sent out to the site directors this week. 
It was buried in a bunch of stuff intended to encourage everyone as we roll on into the last month of the school year.

Sort of like 'we're in the home stretch, make sure you get your site inventory done, let me know if I can help you with anything, rah rah, go team!'

"Looking for positive reinforcement ideas? If students did a great job cleaning up after snack, celebrate with an outdoor picnic snack the next day. If students had great listening ears during team meeting, reward them with 10 extra minutes of recess. If students were focused and listening during face-to-names, maybe that earns them a second recess at 5:00 pm!"

Extra recess as a reward isn't positive anything. 
It's manipulative crap. 

And it's beyond me why we don't know better by now. 
I don't like this shit anyway, but it really bugs me when it comes from someone I like in most ways. This person has a sense of humor, is compassionate, cares about her job and the people she works with and although I don't know her outside of work, I've never heard her say a bad thing about anyone. She's consistently upbeat, reliable and supportive of us and our programs.

Okay, first, someone in a management position should know that sanitation/licensing says no, we aren't having snacks outside. We can't keep our surroundings free of things like bird shit.

Regarding the rewards thing, I can give sort of a pass to people who don't have kids and have never worked with them. Of course they don't get it. But think about it.

This is the last month of school. Kids are tired. 
They're being asked to do a lot more than their usual heavy load, too.

I think we lose sight of how much we are expecting from our young humans. 

We don't see them. 
We don't remember being them.

We (I include myself in this) rarely consider where little Hayden came from before he showed up this afternoon. 

Does he live in a home where he's cared for? Is he listened to and encouraged and appreciated for who he is? Does he have issues in his classroom with being able to pay attention or is he bothered by the noises his seat mate is making? Did he have time to eat his lunch? Did his teacher decide the best way to get him to stop wiggling was to take away his recess? 

Is he one of the check in kids with the daily boo boo sheet? (do click on that link. Please. I have talked about this more than once, but I figure the more people who learn about it and see why it's a crap idea, the better.)

Did he oversleep and have to rush to get ready for school this morning? Was his already-overworked mom or dad grumpy with him because he didn't hurry fast enough? Did he spill glue on his shirt and does he have texture or sensory issues so that spot of glue is driving him nuts all day? Does he have a loose tooth he can't leave alone? Is his nose stuffy or runny? Is he coming down with something or just getting over it?

Is he getting along with the classmate he argued with during the foursquare game at morning recess now that they're both at my program and getting ready to make something from magnatiles?

I don't know most of the answers to those questions at any given time, but I do know that when Hayden's shoulders are set a certain way as I look at him across the room, he hasn't had a great day and is likely to explode if someone looks at him wrong.

And even if all the things are perfect, a kid may be having an off day. 
I know I have them. I'll bet you do, too.

They're learning all the time while we coast along in our groove. 
They're growing. 
Their little brains are busy 24/7, and so are their bodies. It's go, go, go, constantly.

And on top of that learning all the time thing they do, the school year is winding down.
Oh! And end of year high stakes testing! When mine worry aloud about the tests, I tell them truthfully that the test isn't about them at all. 

"No one will ever show you your tests. They won't be using your test to help you do better in math or reading or anything. So all you can do is your best. No one can ask more than that. Do it and then forget about it." 

Also they're dealing with complete disruption in their routines. 
The end of school year concerts are happening. 
There are field trips and class parties.

So my young humans show up in various stages of being escalated, grumpy, tired, weepy, uncooperative with things like games and construction toys. They're hungry, too. A lot of them haven't eaten since 11 and probably didn't get enough time to eat, too much time waiting in line and then rushing so they can get outside.

Instead of 'how can we make kids do what we want' we should be asking what's best for these kids right now, today. What can we do to take some of the pressure off? How can we contribute to them having a good afternoon? How can we help them relax?

Here's the point, at least for people who do this work. Might work for everyone who deals with kids...
The more exercise they get, the more freedom they have to choose their own adventures, the easier our jobs get.

Read that again.

The more exercise they get, the more freedom they have to choose their own adventures, the easier our jobs get.

So feed them immediately upon arrival in program. 
Answer, "Yes." if they ask to finish the lunch their parent packed for them this morning. If they want seconds of the snack we're serving, yes to that, too.

The kids who are there late in the afternoon are offered a second snack at 5:30.

As soon as they eat and we know the playground is clear of the other group(s) we are outside. Our usual time is a half hour, but the weather has been lovely and they're really enjoying their recess time. So we stay out a full hour most days. Even longer when we can. Sometimes the other group comes out while we're there so we go in, but they never come out during our designated time slot.

Stop making outside time, something they need as much as they need food and water, transactional. 

And stop encouraging people who work with children to be condescending and patronizing to them.

Please.

Uh oh. They got me.

Is this in any way believable?
I know we're not supposed to respond, but if I could figure out how to scream mad laughter in their faces, I would.

"Transeer"?? (To a tollbooth and add 35% service fee?)
"Thank you for your immediate attraction"??
Oh, and check out the official seal on the upper left.

I have three or four posts in various stages sitting here in drafts. 
I just haven't managed to finish them.
I'm still reading you if you're writing, just having some motivation issues.

Which reminds me, it's after noon and I need to get a shower 'cause I have like 5 loads of laundry to do.

Ohhh, I'm sooooo sick?

Poor Bailey. 

Last Friday she went to the school office about 9:30 AM, complaining that her tummy hurt.

Her mom left work, came to school and picked her up. When they got home, Bailey was magically fine. For the rest of the day she was just fine. No fever or other symptoms. She was marked absent in the app we use with a message that they were monitoring her, but that she had no symptoms that would exclude her from school or my program.

She was back on Monday. But Steffie, seeing how her sister got to stay home, watch TV and hang out with Mom, got 'sick' at school too.

Same result. As a precautionary measure, she was picked up and taken home. And was back on Tuesday

So Wednesday, Steffie decided she'd try the same thing again. 

The school notified her parents and Dad told them he was not able to pick up immediately, that if she did not have a fever or any other excludable symptoms, please send her to my program after school and he would get there as soon as he could.

Steffie was fine, she ate a snack with the rest of the kids and was all bouncy and cheerful. You know, normal.

Her dad showed up about 3:15, not even an hour into program time. Both girls were surprised. They ran to him, and Steffie said, "Daddy! Daddy!! Can we go to the park??!!"

He said, "No we can't go to the park. You're SICK, remember?"

She said, "Oh I was sick, but I feel just fine now!" 

Dad did not look happy.
He left work two hours early to come get the kids.

This is not Bailey. Or Steffie.

So the next day, Bailey went to the school office to say her tummy hurt again. The attendance secretary asked Bailey, "Do you want me to call your mom or dad?"

She said no.

"Well, you don't have a fever. You're not throwing up. What would you like me to do for you?"

And Bailey said darkly, "Nothing. There's nothing you can do for me."

I know it's not funny to her, and I'd never laugh at her, but it is sort of humorous. Both girls have been lectured about lying to say they're ill, parents need to be at work. I overheard Dad telling Bailey on Friday that, "If you ever are really sick, I still want you to call me. I will take care of you. But calling me when you're not sick and pretending that you are will get you in trouble every time."

There are kids who complain their stomach hurts when they're anxious. They don't have the vocabulary to explain their anxiety, they just know something is bothering them and those are the words they use to describe it. Fairly common.

But this wasn't that.
 
"There's nothing you can do for me." 

Oooh, I'm in trouble....

 
This was sent via text to my phone.

I guess it looks more or less official.
And I know that people fall for this shit all the time.
But there aren't any toll roads in Oregon. 
I have never had a speeding ticket. Like, ever.
There were no other notifications, which should make anyone suspicious as this is designed to get a person to panic based on 'THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING' stuff.

And the penalties, like not being allowed to register any of my vehicles, don't work that way.

My name is not included anywhere, nor is there any identifying information. Of course it's a scam.

I'm not dumb enough to click on the QR code with my phone, but I have an old phone that still works.

Hm. Wonder where it leads.
Scroll past the scary certificate looking thing for what happened when I looked at the QR code.

So I powered up my old phone and scanned the QR code. 

First it took me to a page where I had to click on a box to verify that I am human.

The header on the page after that said MASSDMV.

It was an official looking website for the State of Massachusetts.
Apparently I owe $16.95.

Now obviously I'm not paying them anything, but my guess is that if I had paid them the nominal fee by credit/debit card, they'd take whatever they could out of my account.

In a way, I'd think that a person who was falling for the scam would look at that nominal fee and think, huh, all this threatening stuff over 17 bucks? And then maybe not proceed. But who knows? 

Anyway, I didn't try to pay it, but it might have been fun to use an old card just to make them spent some time on it. But maybe not. Better to just not engage.

It's not a fortune teller.

I can understand why you'd think this is a fortune teller.

I happen to know that you're wrong.

But of course, I have inside information.
Benji made this just before we went outside. 

He's been making fortune tellers for a few days ever since he learned how to fold one. He's proud of having learned to do it, so he has made quite a few. He doesn't quite understand how one works, he opens and closes it the same direction each time and hasn't figured out the two-handed approach that opens it first one way, then the other.

The process of getting to one's fortune seems arbitrary, one can choose three for example, and he'll open and close it 10 times. And then lift up the flap on six. I don't claim to understand it. 

Haha, he can't claim understanding, either.

He brought it to me on the playground and said, "Do you know what this is?"

Silly me. I guessed 'fortune teller'.

He said, "No. It looks like a fortune teller, but," and here he lowered his voice, "That's just a cover up. A disguise. What this really is," and he leaned even closer, lowered his voice a little more, "is an abomination."

It is so. Hard. Not. To. Laugh.

"How is it an abomination, Benji?" He opened the four points a bit and said, "This is its mouth. But it doesn't eat with its mouth. Instead, you put the food in its butt. It doesn't even have to chew it, then the food goes backwards and comes out its mouth. It farts a lot and doesn't have any friends. That's why it's an abomination."

Then he tried to hand it off to me so he could go play, and I showed him how to fold it into a square and put it in his pocket, explaining that if all 20 kids gave me something to hold, I'd have my hands full.

He skipped off to play, abomination in his pocket.

I do not know where he gets his ideas.

::snort:::

 

Some Blanket!

Soooo... is it just me or does the 'art' pictured on this electric blanket insert look like an inflatable companion? 
I saved the clear zippered bag it came in to make bug wings. 
It's Please Bug Me month in my program.

We're making all kinds of interesting critters.

No blow up dolls, however.