Friendship

An important part of kindergarten is for the children to learn to develop a wide range of skills for how to work and play with the many different personalities of their classmates. We want for them to make some close friends that they especially enjoy. Along with these friendships, the children will need to learn how to share, take turns, compromise, and develop empathy for their friends. They will need to exhibit kindness and helpfulness. Young children are naturally self-centered; but, to be a true friend, they will need to move beyond this and begin to think of the needs of their friends, too. How exciting it is to see our students learn what it takes to be a real friend.

But what about the rest of their classmates and their teachers? Do their feeling count, as well? Of course they do! Once a child has learned to consider the feelings of their friends, it is time for them to move forward developing empathy for their entire classroom community and then expanding into the world around them. How wonderful it is to see the class being considerate and respectful of others. In order to encourage the children to be inclusive to all their classmates, we have shuffled the table and carpet spots so that everyone is now sitting with new classmates. This changes the dynamics of the classroom atmosphere and allows for the children to establish new relationships. Some of these will blossom into new friendships as they work and play with different people.

As our children grow up, they will have an invaluable tool if they have learned how to develop positive     relationships with their peers, co-workers, bosses, neighbors, and family members. The old saying, "Everything I need to know, I learned in kindergarten," has a lot of truth in it.