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Please don’t wet me
Our recent focus on water play seems to be serving as a way to also support our tamariki in developing their communication skills and resilience.
We have had lots of different opportunities to explore water including spray bottles, the water trough, the sandpit water fountain and the hose. Often when playing with water, the children will get squirted, sprayed or splashed with water. We are supporting the tamariki to understand that although water is wet and sometimes cold and it's not always pleasant to be wet by someone else, it is not a big deal and will not hurt them. We are supporting these tamariki to understand that instead of getting upset they can speak up with confidence and say "I don't like that" or "Please don’t wet me". On the other side of this, it is also supporting our tamariki to listen, respect and respond when they hear this from one of their peers.
We have seen a big shift in the way the children are dealing with these situations and the growth in their resilience and confidence to speak up is really reassuring. Most of our tamariki have been on both sides of these situations which means we are also able to support them to see another child's point of view by revisiting how they may have felt when this happened to them.
Now we are seeing lots of light hearted fun where our tamariki are respecting each other’s boundaries and the spraying, splashing and squirting of the water becomes a mutual game.