Has this
ever happened to you?
You are
doing hallway duty (or cafeteria surveillance, maybe even bus duty), and you
see a student slap another student, or take his notebook or backpack. The offended student then chases the other
student around, running into multiple students as they make their way down the
hall. You make your way towards the
students as they begin slapping, poking, tripping, and/or pushing each
other…heck, they may even be engaged in a wrestling match!
“Knock it
off!” you yell in order to get their attention.
“Why are you doing this to each other?”
The student
looks you straight in the eye and says “We were just playing around”…as if that
excuses them from any consequences for their poor behavior. You call the student’s parents, and they tell
you “Johnny says he was just playing around”…like YOU are the bad guy for
actually having the audacity to interrupt their child’s “play time”.
As an
educator, it is frustrating to deal with this type of behavior on a daily
basis. It is rampant at the elementary
level, but it can be an issue at the secondary level as well. This is the “rationale” I use on students
when they try to feed me the “We were just playing around” excuse…taken from my
latest ebook “Why Do We Have To Go To School – and the Answers to 99 Other
Questions Students, Parents, and Teachers Ask”.
Click on the blue links to see the answers in more detail!
There are
many reasons why “We were just playing around” isn’t a satisfactory excuse for
horseplay.
*Putting your hands on someone without
their consent is disrespectful
*Every time you touch a person…it has
meaning
*Playing around is the first step to bullying
*Playing around leads to name-calling
*Playing around leads to drama
*Why are we “playing around” anyways?
*Are you mature…or not?