LEFT OUT!
Being new in the neighborhood, the children were experiencing some feelings of being “left out,” especially our two and four year old boys, who could not go to school with the others.
One morning as I prepared ahead of time for the new day, I packed each of them a special sack lunch and tucked in extra goodies–marshmellows. They were most pleased. By 9:00 a.m. they were outdoors with sack in hand, but were immediately confronted by two neighborhood children who zipped by on their bicycles saying, “We can’t play with you. We’re bicycling today.”
I heard my four year old try to entice their attention with marshmallows. But their response was, “We have gum.” Immediately I was confronted with two pitiful broken spirits saying, “They won’t play with us. Can’t we have gum, too?”
Knowing that gum would not really solve the problem, I wondered what I could do. I went to the closet and produced a large old quilt, took the children out on the front lawn, and spread it out for a picnic. This drew the immediate attention of the two neighborhood children. I called for them to come share a special picnic with marshmallows. They were there in a minute. A very rejecting experience was healed, and friendships had begun.
{sc} contributing editor for Brown Eyed Baby Boutique
Add comment September 14th, 2006
