Learning ~ 17th Day of 30 day blog challenge

Once upon a time there was a single mum who lived with her 7 year old son. Many days were spent working as a volunteer at her son's school so she could help children learn to read. After many weeks of supporting these children, the teacher decided that there were other children who could use some help with their maths work. The teacher approached the mum and asked if she would be happy to help out. The mum said she would be delighted and began to work with a small group of children during their maths lesson. The mum realised that the regular methods that were being used in the class were not helping these children so she asked if she could introduce some games to see if this would help. The teacher was happy to try anything and gave the mum permission to play some games.

The mum took out several board games and asked the children to choose which game they wanted to play. The children chose snakes and ladders. A very popular game with children because there are elements of competition and various challenges. Each time someone slid down a snake, they were asked to answer a question.

During the game, the mum realised that the children were not particularly good at taking turns and needed to learn that each person had a go while everyone else waited. She decided that not only did the children need to learn their maths, but also needed to learn some social skills. After they finished playing the game, she approached their teacher to discuss this with her. The teacher agreed and expressed her gratitude for the mum's input.

Over the next few weeks, the children began to understand that the game playing was much more enjoyable when everyone got a fair share and started to make the effort to wait patiently and take turns. The added bonus to playing the games was that their maths also improved over time.

Sometimes we need to take the time to give others a chance to do the things they find difficult and be patient enough to wait for them to discover something we have known for a while.