This time, it should be interesting. Since Beloved went off to college I have resisted holding any special events at our school. He was such a piped piper, that I felt without him the event lost its “cool” aspect. He led most of the activities and set up the games. So it has been two years since I held the Wing Chun Do Lock In.
I feel differently about it now. The children that used to follow him around and hang on his every word have grown up. They’re the cool kids now. They have become a tight knit group of black belts and leaders and they like each other’s company. The newer students don’t even know who Beloved is, Jim’s the cool guy now.
Another thing I love is to watch is how the group dynamic plays out. Sometimes I get anxious when I have a weird mix of ages or not enough of one age. I want to make sure that everyone feels inclusive. But I am always pleasantly surprised. With children ranging from 5 to 14, it’s interesting to see what groups form, who gravitates to who, who plays best together, where the girls fit in with each other, which of the older children will play gently with the younger ones. I feel like I am a schoolmarm in rural America. All ages of children are under one roof, one class.
To my surprise, all 28 screaming children descended upon the school ready for riotous fun, games and unfettered chaos. All I ask that they stay on the side of caution. Although it may seem outside the realm of reason, I do believe that children should be allowed to go all out in play. Just as they play outside on the playground, I allow them to do so indoors. This is a whole new concept for them. You mean I can run around like a nut, yelling my head off, and no one cares?
My strategy is to let them blow off all that extra energy. They are so excited and completely energized about spending the night with their friends. After the first hour of running around like nuts, they start to settle down. We now can play organized games, watch a movie, or have a bit of quiet time.
Let’s see what happened this time. Girls. This is the first sleep over where there were 14 girls to 14 boys. This tipped the scale. In the past the girl ratio was half or less to that of the boys. Their favorite thing to do was… chase the boys, of course.
One in particular, nine year old Joshua was the girl’s favorite. He had no less than seven girls chasing him about the school. Poor boy. I felt concerned and told him that he just had to say the word and I would gladly put a stop to it. He wasn’t interested, he liked it.
As I watched the action, I saw a glimmer of what the girls saw in him. At one point he runs into the room sliding dramatically to a stop. His hair had fantastic movement to it. It flowed forward, covered his face as he came to a stop then flowed back, almost in slow motion. Sibok (Rocco’s title, meaning chief instructor) and I looked at each other. Did you see that? No wonder the girls are chasing him, the boy looks like a rock star. It doesn’t hurt that he looks like Zac, the lead in High School Musical. He’s doomed.
Jim, the lead volunteer helper is eighteen years old. In our meeting earlier, we discussed recognizing when the frenzy level gets too high. At the peak of play, the noise level settles at a certain decibel or tonality. After years of experience, I have learned that there is a perceptible change in tonality or frequency when the play becomes too raucous. It’s a recognizable early warning system. Warning: a child is going to cry soon or a quarrel is on its way. A quick call to attention immediately drops the energy level to a low hum again.
Jim recognizing that the mayhem was about to get out of hand yelled “Attention!” Good man, he’s learning fast. The children stopped in their tracks and became silent, waiting for his instructions. “Little kids, little kids, you need to slow down and play more quietly. There are small children, watch out for them.” A small voice came from the corner of the room, “I’m a very small child, and I am playing quietly.”
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