When should grownups stop fights? (1952)

life and nursery school is usually peaceful like families nursery schools try to reduce the occasions for conflicts and fights by providing ample equipment by giving the children as much space and freedom as possible and by setting clear and sensible limits but fights and quarrels still occur as an app part of the children's growth and learning when such conflicts arise they rarely violent battles but the feelings of the children who take part in these fleeting conflicts are just as strong as those of older children and the teacher must decide what to do some conflicts are easy to decide about because the teachers feel sure that they must be stopped for example teachers do not permit the use of weapons which are physically dangerous nor can they allow the group to gang up on a scapegoat the victim is obviously unable to cope with such an overwhelming threat they feel they must step in when a child has gone on a rampage and the rest of the children need protection from repeated attacks stopping such a child may become a matter of emergency he may have to be removed bodily the repeated attacks may arouse the teachers own emotions but she tries to discipline him without rejecting him and the grown-up must be the first to recover her emotional balance to help the child to a fresh start other fights and conflicts are easy to decide about because the teachers feel sure they can be left alone with safety and even with profit to the children they do not need to stop playful attacks which remain playful here clay work develops into clay throwing but most teachers would agree that these three boys are not upset or anxious they are not bothering the other children in the room and the boy who is the target for the pellets of clay obviously can take care of himself but many conflicts are neither obviously dangerous they're obviously safe to leave alone teachers must make difficult judgments swiftly by sizing up what the situation means to each child following the introductory scenes now before you you will be shown four episodes of this difficult kind where decisions are not easy to make in deciding should the teachers stop the fight you will have one great advantage over the teacher on the spot you will have time time to consider some of the basic issues the community's attitude towards violence matters of educational philosophy and the long run optimum development of each child basic issues which enter into every decision about stopping a quarrel but the teacher has an advantage over you she has previous intimate knowledge of each of the children involved without such knowledge you may not be able to decide whether the teacher should stop each of the following fights or not that is not important what matters is your ability to size up the situation from the children's behavior and expressions and to consider what the teachers intervention might mean here now are four episodes of life and nursery school which involve conflict this two-year-old leaves his tricycle to sit in the rocking boat another boy in the striped shirt seizes the bike now each boy has a claim this doll carriage is too big for the tunnel the little girl seems to feel she can force it through while the boy tries to point out that it will not work the discussion goes on in the direct manner of three-year-olds this boy has been making the sudden attacks all morning now he slips and falls as he throws a can which hits another boy in the back here's another bit of his morning's activities here he is again second from the right this threesome begins as a group sailing project but the boys soon run into difficulty over who is captain and who is crew this two-year-old leaves his tricycle to sit in the rocking boat another boy in a striped shirt seizes the bike now each boy has a claim this doll carriage is too big for the tunnel the little girl seems to feel she could force it through while the boy tries to point out that it will not work the discussion goes on in the direct manner of three-year-olds this boy has been making these sudden attacks all morning now he slips and falls as he throws a can which hits another boy in the back here is another bit of his morning's activities here he is again second from the right this threesome begins as a group sailing project but the boys soon run into difficulty over who is captain and who is crew