Thursday, August 9, 2012

Mini 'Olympics'

We have been enjoying watching the Olympics as a family. My strict TV watching schedules have been thrown out the window for these 17 days and we have a new Olympics season only habit of watching TV after dinner and staying up past the usual bed time. I'm probably setting myself up for some protests after the Olympics come to a close but I'll deal with that when the time comes.

The school has had two days of their own 'Olympics' too. Yesterday was for the under 6s so I took Adrian along. His class of toddlers were representing Australia so they were all in yellow. There was a parade of the athletes (and their parents), an opening speech, the athletes oath and even an official opening by the Queen. 






Today, it was Aaron's turn. It was a long day in the sun for Adrian and me! The teachers were extremely hardworking and planned out a full day of sports fun for the children. It was well organised with all children have several turns at all the events.






I don't know if this is in keeping with some Montessori philosophy or not but competition was clearly not emphasized. It was all about participation and there were no winners. This was good if you think about all the disappointed, crying or sore loser children that the teachers didn't have to deal with but I do think that the kids need some sort of an introduction to competition so they can start learning to deal with it now. 

Its Friday tomorrow and I have one final, full day for this week. I really need the weekend!

2 comments:

Mike said...

'start learning to deal with it now'

The earlier they learn that life is not fair the better.

Bilbo said...

I agree with Mike. Also, I would add a word of caution about taking part in Olympics-type play with your children ... my knee is finally almost recovered from the damage I did to it while playing gymnastics with Leya and - like an idiot - responding to the plea, "Now YOU do it, Opa!!"