Hug O' War

Shel Silverstein wrote this perfect poem in his book 'Where the Sidewalk Ends'. In my youth, I picked up this book and flipped to this poem. I had to buy it right there. It has since been my favorite kids book of poems. 

What a wonderful world we would live in if kids and adults everywhere lived by the creed of hug o' war not tug o' war. Bullies would quit bullying, parents would quit fighting, everyone would be accepting of each other. 

I believe that one of the worst things we do in school, sports, scouts, and other venues is ask children to choose other children for teams or groups. There always has to be someone chosen last. There always has to be those fearful that they will be chosen last. It is not okay for any child to be chosen last EVER!  Why can't we outlaw this horrible practice? There are other ways to get teams or kids into groups. Count off or random draws are just a couple ideas that pop into my head. 

While I am spouting my ideas, I will add that we, teachers, need to be more cognizant of putting grades on papers. The purpose is to communicate with a student their grade not to shout it to the whole class. So what is wrong with writing a small grade on the back of the paper instead of boldly displaying it in red on the front in huge letters? Red is said to be bleeding on a student's paper. I agree. No one feels good about making mistakes. Do we really need to slash and burn their papers in red ink? Couldn't we be a bit more aware of feelings and communicate only with the author of the paper or the taker of the test? I know we could.

So let's all play at Hug o' War, where everyone wins.

In Him,

Joyful

5-12-14