During the first week of the session, I met one
new mom who was there because I had visited the Play and Learn class that
she attends at the Lussier Center on Tuesday mornings and I had
mentioned the program to that group. At first, she was unsure what her
role
as an adult in this program was (she could tell it was different than
Play and Learn), so I talked with her about the importance of carefully
observing children in play to see what amazing things they might do. I
checked in with her a little while later and
she was delighted to tell me about three situations that her son had
figured out on his own, things that she would have stepped in to help
him with before trying this approach.
The first was an intellectual
risk -- he was building a tower of blocks and couldn't reach the top,
and figured out by himself that he could use a circle block as a
stepstool to get him high enough to reach the top
of the tower.
The second was a physical
risk -- he was balancing with both feet on a three-wheeled scooter and
he fell. When he got back up, he tried standing on the wheels with only
one foot and one foot on the ground and was
more stable.
The third was a social risk
-- he wanted a four-wheeled scooter that another child also wanted. She
told me that usually she would step in and point out that there was
another four-wheeled scooter nearby, but she
tried just watching and pretty soon, he gave up arguing with the other
child and went and found a three-wheeled scooter to play with instead.
She thanked me for this
opportunity to try something new and this chance to be surprised by what
her son could do on his own. I congratulated her on her willingness to
try this approach and shared her excitement about
what she'd learned about her son. This is a fantastic experience for a
first-time attender and I can't wait to see what unfolds in upcoming
weeks!
During week 2, another
mom told me that she had shown her daughter the pictures and videos
she'd captured during play last week and when her daughter was excited
to watch them over and over and talk about them to both parents, she
really
could see how much her comprehension of what had happened during the
play increased through that repetition. It was so great to see this
lightbulb moment for the mom! She also told me that she decided to try
letting all of her kids (two can't attend AnjiPlayDate
because they're in school) sort out their own sibling squabbles and she was
shocked at how quickly they stepped up their negotiation and conflict
resolution skills as soon as they realized mom wasn't going to step in
and fix it for them.
Another mom who homeschools her children shared with me that she liked the play story notebook idea so much that she bought each of her kids a blank notebook to create their own play stories in more frequently!
These stories really drive home for me the impact that Anji Play can have on children beyond the time to play during the program itself. Thank you to all of these parents for sharing their stories with me!
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