I am watching a number of Kindergarten students grapple with the transition into, “traditional school” and it is uncomfortable to say the least. A number of them have come to us from the pandemic with the inability to control themselves; their crying, their wishing to escape (and they do, we have a few runners), their fists, their emotions.
These behaviors do make sense from the perspective that most of their parents were probably placating them so they could function in their own adult responsibilities. I was discussing with some educators today how I can see why each of them behaves with the pandemic perspective. I can also see it from an educator’s perspective that enough is enough! We have a curriculum we need to get to and this kid needs to stop crying and get over it. Every educator understands that big emotions like anger and sadness are necessary for all humans to have and therefore acceptable because they are a part of us. However, I feel that every educator feels that they have a right to teach and their students to learn. Therefore anything in the way is too much. Ironically the set up is that there is not enough because there is way too much to handle.
