Day 8

So I have to catch up on my last two days at People Serving People. This one will be fairly quick because there was not too much other than the usual happenings last week. I think one of the things that stood out for me last week was the fact that I had not noticed the physical aggression that ensues amongst the toddlers. Either because it always happened when I was not looking or because it just did not start until recently. Probably the first situation, though, because even though it was the first time I had seen any of these toddlers use physical aggression against each other, I witnessed it happening on numerous occasions throughout my two hours there that day.
The reason the kids become agitated with each other usually has something to do with toys and sharing. The way I saw them hurting each other was through biting and hitting, mostly. One of the little girls would bite herself when one of the kids was making her mad, too. The biting is scary to watch because the kids do not really care what happens to their friend as long as they get their toy back. I am sure that they do not want to hurt their friends, but they also do not really understand the value of other human lives and how it is appropriate to interact with others yet.
One of the other things I noticed was the verbal aggression that the kids used with each other. This is also important behavior that the teacher should correct because this is what can get out of hand as the child gets older. One of the little boys was pushing a shopping cart around the play area and got stuck because one of the other kids was in the way. He stopped and yelled, "Get out of my way!" The teacher stopped him and said, "That is not how we talk to our friends! You have to play nice." The little boy quickly understood and said in the sweetest voice ever, "Excuse me." If quickly corrected, they can learn that what they had originally said was not nice and that they need to address their friends nicely.