The Crying Game

Eleven tiny, powerful self-propelled tornadoes whirl in different directions causing destruction in their wake. Toys are dumped, puzzles scattered, sensory table material spilled. It is quite amazing how these little three year old bodies can encompass so much energy so early in the morning.


It's why we embrace our afternoon class and perhaps, purposely, end our day with a much calmer group of children. Their only delay is speech and language so their behavior is more on par with what a 'normal' developing 3 - 4 year old should act like.

As I was sitting with a small group of children assisting them in their artwork, I noticed, and even mentioned to my co-workers, how nicely another group were playing. They were engaged with a train set, building,sharing and playing appropriately.

A few other kids were working with the speech therapist and one of the staff members took the copy helpers to make copies of our daily paper we send home to the parents.

I felt we were in the eye of the tornado after what we experienced in the morning. The atmosphere was calm and peaceful, until I heard a muffled cry coming from the train set area.

I looked over and saw a child standing on the storage bin we use for the train set. The cry came from underneath the bin.

Apparently one of the boys decided it would be fun to crawl under the bin leaving the opportunity for another to climb on it. Not a good combination.

Once the trapped child was rescued he fell apart in my arms sobbing. Poor little fella. As I was consoling and talking with him, his tears dried and he felt better.

Just as I was about to stand, a little girl decided she needed consoling and, for no apparent reason, started to cry as well. I knelt back down to hold her when a few others joined in, not so much crying but wanting a hug.

Luckily a full blown tornado didn't emerge and it was just a passing wind. Everyone settled back down and things resumed just as they were before.