To Fish or Be the Fish - coaching young boys to focus and be their best
I have been working with a few young 3rd grade boys from one class over the past few months. It seems that there is always something that triggers conflict. Most often it is words, but a few times it has escalated into minor physical altercations. The interpersonal relationships have developed into a toxic, finger-pointing, looking for trouble context that has been quite disruptive to the class; especially during less structured times and transitions. After a major escalation where play "battling" got aggressively physical, I felt that the standard disciplinary action was not enough. An increase in monitoring, coaching and visible support from administration felt necessary. In my discussions and counseling with this particular group of boys, I found that there was a lot of distracting nonsense going on. They were constantly in each other's space, nitpicking on each other, baiting each other and trying to touch each other. How frustrating! So I told them this story (an