More. I want. Yes. Tantrum.
What happens when we only ask for more? Yet the day is full of physical non verbal interactions where there are requests for engagement or active participation. How many times a day do we hear no? Yet do we have the strategies or language to deal with that? Why so many no’s? Why do we want individuals to tell us what they want? Yet why do they continue to say no and get louder about it?
How many hours of the day are we ‘supposed’ to be engaged actively doing something? Where does it say that? Why does it say that?
How many friends are we supposed to have? Why? What happens if you have too many? What happens if you don’t have enough? What happens if you don’t like the people who are around you? What happens if you do like the people around you but don’t have the skills to play / interact with them? What happens if ‘they’ don’t want to support you to play / interact with them? What happens if they do want to support you to play with them but only in that type of game because you can play at a better level and it doesn’t impact on the overall game or they don’t have to do too much work to support you which takes away from their own enjoyment / skill / interaction with others etc. What happens if there is no where for you to learn how to interact appropriately? If no one gives you the right feedback, enough feedback or any feedback about how to successfully interact? What impact does this have on your time use over the course of the day?
How long does it take for kids to calm when they have an environment that is providing them with ‘enough’ variety and depth of content for learning? What natural limits do we need to keep reminding are in place that are traditional environmental barriers versus what we can then provide access to to assist with management of anger and skill access deprivation over a long period of time? What does natural attention and being calm look like over the course of the day / over the course of the week? When does safety still come into it when kids are asking for more?