When you think boys, you may think blue, cars and fast. When you think girls, you may think pink, dolls, and dress-up. Read our blog and see how beautiful it is to be free of stereotype. A typical morning is breakfast, clean up, and then we head out for our morning play and social hour. As I do the daily sweep up of leaves from our loquat tree I hear one of the boys say, "hold on, I'm gonna go get a babydoll." The other boy shouts out, "hey yeah, me too." Our third boy rushes into the playroom and grabs a doll and a pink stroller. I start to smile at the cuteness of these little guys. So, I continue to sweep, when I glance over at the girls. I notice they are both at a tool bench. One is sawing a sign and the other is hammering one. I wander a little closer so I can catch their conversation without causing interruptions. I hear them humming a tune of "♫um ah, goes the little green frog one day♫" and I watch them working hard at their projects. I try to hang close as the children busily engage in play and friendship. Eventually the boys come over to the girls and before you know it, they all have a doll and something to push them in. They come to me to tell me they want to make a hospital, a park, a home, a grocery store and a play area and they want me to make the signs. I do this and one by one, they all rush around the back yard to put up signs on everything. So here is their story:
One day a group of friends took their babies to see the fire works (I had the sprinklers on). They clapped and cheered until it ended.
This made for a hungry bunch, so off to a restaurant they went. Everyone ate and spoke softly cause the babies were sleeping nearby.
One by one, as they finished, they sat with their dolls and waited for each other.
Once they were all done, they had to take one baby to the hospital and another went to play at the local ball park.
Then there was the stroll to the grocery store.
All in all, this group of children interacted with compassion, sincerity, and an understanding of day to day life. I saw their parents in their little faces and in the decisions on what and how they do things. I listened to the conversations about hospital visits for the blood pokes or saw the gentleness in how they pushed their dolls on the swings. I loved how one would come up with an idea and others would listen and support their ideas by joining in enthusiastically. All their families are raising beautiful little people. They should all be so proud. I know I am because in this world we live in today, I now there are dangers, disasters and just human troubles. I love that my job allows me the opportunity to foster love and acceptance of one another. Like I said in the beginning, no stereotype here ☻☻
Following our trip, we returned home, rested, had a snack, then headed over to the library to gather new books for our upcoming theme next week. It's a secret, but we'll share next week.
