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The other day, our 5-yr old came home from school sad. He said a girl he was trying to play with wouldn’t play with him during recess. Other girls convinced her to not play with him. He asked what to do. My thought was to tell him to kick her to the curb (it’s just an expression). Fortunately, my wife responded and said that he should focus on playing with other people.
Seeing that he wasn’t thrilled by the lack of guidance, she asked him in a secretive type of voice, “Do you want to go on a ‘secret adventure’?”
Of course, he said, "yes," looking very intrigued.
“Your secret adventure is to find two different people to play with while you are at recess tomorrow.” She quickly followed up with, “But, do you want to go on a ‘*Super* Secret Adventure’?”
Of course he did.
“I need for one of those people to be someone who is not playing with someone else.” She promised him a “super secret surprise” if he was able to accomplish his mission. In essence, my wife turned a difficult situation for our son into an opportunity for him to serve someone else who might be feeling lonely.
Well, he did accomplish his mission, and he had a new (and highly coveted) snorkel and mask that he had been asking for all summer, waiting for him when he got home. More importantly, he had a great time recounting to us how his super secret mission played out, earlier that day.
By "Pennies of Time" Adventuring Dad
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Thank you for our first GUEST post! For more information on how you can share your ideas and adventures, check the Share Your "Pennies of Time" Adventures tab. We need your experiences and ideas!
What "Pennies of Time" ideas do you have for children to build friendships through serving?
Thanks for sharing. WE just moved to a new school, and it has been very hard for my 7 year old. He said the same exact thing...he asked the boys at recess to play with him and they all ran off. I'm going to do this next week! Thanks Sheila for this blog!
ReplyDeleteWendi-Good luck at a new school! That is always difficult. Hope he find some good buddies soon. Sheila
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the post. I think my sister will also find this post useful for her son!!
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