Promise II

Today I promised to play with a group of 2nd-grade boys. But they were playing with the area where they were not supposed to be playing. I told them they shouldn't play there, but they told me that they haven't been scolded. So, instead of joining them, I stood, watching them playing a game. In the meantime, a few girls approached me and asked me to play with them. Since two of the girls were interesting in terms of my research, I followed them. This action of mine appeared to be "betrayal" to some of the boys. They asked me why I didn't join them and one of them even criticized one of the girls for taking me away from them. I made up for the boys by playing with them in a different place during the afternoon recess. And I apologized to the girl for being wrongly accussed because of my action.

Oh well, there is a lot to learn from interactions with children.