just got through a 8 year old’s birthday party with squealing, giggling girls making a lot of noise, etc. it’s fun to watch them play and have fun, but the 2 minute attention span is a bit of a challenge! being a teacher with this age group must be a constant collage of activity.
it is kind of interesting to watch the 8 year social deal at work, and the politics of the relationships between the kids. quite intriguing to see how they all interact and play games and figure out who is who, etc. they design all kinds of characters and roles as part of their play – i don’t remember this as a boy. it was mostly just goodies and baddies, and those simple stereotypes got us by, whereas the girls have all kinds of subtle variations in the social structure of their play. take the boys to the park and it quickly settles into basic warfare with imaginary enemy forces, or they create two teams and go for it. the girls get into games involving sisters (twins), best friends, puppies, teachers, and mums. it’s another world.
and then they ate – and boy, did they eat! but, i guess it saves me picking at leftover lollies for the next week.