People Who Keep Us Healthy
Today we started a unit exploring ” People Who Keep us Healthy.” In order to understand what that means we have to understand what healthy means. In kids terms, though its not entirely true, it means not sick.
We were reminded that last week the fireman and the police officer had ” tools ” they used to keep us safe. A doctor has tools as well. We made a doctors bag and talked about some of the tools as we put them in.
We have a Dr. Barbie. Its important for girls to know that they too can be doctors !
Another Mr. Potato head was in this box. I must have 10 families of those boogers.
We used syringes to transfer waster from one bowl to another bowl.
There were many pretend doctors tools to play with.
There was an XRAY for the light table. The kids were asking what each part was. Mrs Dallas let the kids feel her spine through her shirt.
The Aushermans are still working on the landscaping so the kids are getting a chance to see how the yard is being redone . The Aushermans are being entertained with chattering kids and bouncing balls.
The kids enjoy using dry erase markers to trace letters. Today they were tracing A’s for ambulance.
With all the talk of doctors and nurses sometimes the children begin to play doctor and explore a little. I wanted to add a little parent education in here as to why that happens and how we handle it.
From Familyeducation.com :
Is Your Preschooler Playing Doctor?
Whether or not you sanction playing doctor, make it clear to your child that young children and adults (or older children) should not touch each other’s genitals. The only exceptions to this rule are: parents, who need to wash their child’s genitals until he can do it himself; and doctors or other healthcare professionals, who sometimes need to examine children’s genitals to check on a rash, for instance.
At four, your child also may begin showing his genitals to others in play. Sexual play occurs between children of the same sex as well as children of opposite sexes. It’s very common for preschoolers to engage in genital touching, hugging, and kissing, often accompanied by lots of tickling and giggling. For you, this activity may seem inappropriate. But for your child, it’s a playful yet perfectly logical way to explore his natural curiosity about gender differences. What could make the physical differences between boys and girls clearer than a game of, “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.” (Oh, sure, you’ll think, now he learns to take turns and share!)
As with all matters of preschool sexuality, try not to overreact to sex play. Just because your child and his friend are exploring their genitals is no reason to panic. In talking to your child about it, let him know that lots of children do that when they’re little. Acknowledge—and even applaud—the children’s curiosity about each other’s bodies. If you want them to stop, however, tell both children that certain parts of our bodies are private. Then try to steer them toward a book that might satisfy their curiosity about their bodies.
Read more on FamilyEducation: http://life.familyeducation.com/sexuality/toddler/53839.html#ixzz2h3o6lgqB
Here at Bright Beginnings if we see children exploring we remind the children that at school we keep our clothes on and that certain parts of our body are private only for ourselves or other ” safekeepers ” to see if they are hurt or need help. ( We use this word a lot. It covers a wide range of people like parents, teachers, doctors , etc….but NOT friends or strangers . ) Then we redirect them to another activity and inform the parents of all parties so they can talk at home about keeping our bodies safe. No one is punished for being curious – after all – a three or four year old cant have ” bad ” intentions when involved in this activity. This might happen once a year and to be honest it is all an uncomplicated process until a parent gets involved and forgets the kids are still small and just curious. Dont get me wrong, it is not encouraged at all… it is not even allowed at school but no one… gets in trouble . We just say “Our bodies are private. We dont show our friends the private areas of our body at school. ”
Whew… that was awkward . But hopefully it helps someone … somewhere down the road. We all played doctor as kids atleast once , right ?