Managing the Chaos at Home

During this time of COVID, many of us are stuck at home with our kids; and if they’re younger, we’re likely going nuts. More than once, I’ve seen many express on social media their newfound respect for teachers and how they stay sane after being with more than 30 kids for hours every day.

Conductors of Chaos

You’ve probably heard about it or seen it yourself – A class of 40 silently working on a task; the only sound in the classroom is the scratching of pens on paper and the occasional cough. You can’t help but wonder: How do teachers do it?

It’s easier said than done, but I learned this simple principle during my training in NIE; and it still stands – Discipline is meaningful engagement.

Understand the Impulse

Have you ever asked your child, as I have asked many of my students, “Do you think it was a good idea to:

• jump off the top of a flight of steps;
• shoot staples at your classmate;
• climb over the school gate;
• throw something out the window?

At that moment? Yes. Yes, it was.

We often don’t realise or forget that children can’t always control their impulses. Sometimes, it consumes them, skips over the reasoning centre of the brain, and compels them to behave very irrationally. That’s why we don’t send children to prison for vandalism, theft or fighting.

Mitigating Conditions for Chaos

When a child is idle, that’s when the impulse kicks in – hard. Here’s a reflection I wrote on Facebook 10 years ago while I was on a learning journey with my class.

It was true then, it’s true today. Of course, it’s not practical to have teachers and parent volunteers constantly watching like hens over their chicks. One trick is to use worksheets and/or competition. Now they’re moving around with purpose; learning and completing their worksheets to get some reward after.

The point is not about giving worksheets, but getting our children to do stuff that builds them up and gives them a sense of accomplishment.

Meaningful Engagement

While it’s unrealistic to keep our kids meaningfully engaged throughout the day and every day, here are some suggestions to keep them from being too idle.

• Project COVID Bunker
  YouTube Vlogs and Tiktok are all the rage these days. Instead of posting the latest dance trend, get your child to find and document the daily events in your home with some witty commentary. However, you should curate each video carefully before your child uploads it, making sure that there’s nothing there you don’t want the world to see. A side benefit is that this will do wonders for your child’s English oral exam.
• Project Virtual Utopia
  Learning has gone digital, but play has been in the space for decades. Skip the shooters and sports games that only engage for the moment. Games like ‘Minecraft’ are kid friendly and are a safe space where children can channel their creativity for months to build almost anything they can imagine. There’s even a ‘creative’ game mode that is only for building and skips the violence. This can even be an excellent bonding activity where the whole family can build the world together!
• Project Gallery
  So, you gave your kids some paper and colour pencils to keep them engaged for a few hours. 30 minutes later, they’re done. Level up this simple activity by turning your house into an art gallery! Challenge your kids to create enough art to cover the walls. Then when they’re done, have them walk you through their gallery, presenting each art-piece. The artwork can even be rotated and refreshed every week, just like an actual art gallery.

Next time your kid acts up, don’t get mad; get creative. They don’t mean to be crazy. They just need something meaningful and rewarding into which they can productively sink their time and energy.

Looking for tuition for your child? Let us know how Mister Meister can help by filling up this form.