Some days it’s hard being a kid. Parents and caregivers don’t always ask you for your opinion. One day they just give you lunch in the red bowl. But nobody ASKED if you wanted the red bowl today. The next day, they just tell you you’re getting a little brother, but nobody ASKED if you wanted a little brother. It’s hard being a kid. It’s even harder when you don’t have an appropriate way to release the anger and frustration building up inside.
Different personality types seek out different outlets to release pent up feelings. Some kids like to swing their troubles away, some like to scribble it out and others like to break or tear objects. Sometimes misbehaviour is about pushing boundaries and sometimes misbehaviour (destruction) has a root to it. Whenever possible, I like to give children appropriate ways to release any upsetting emotions they are struggling with. One day, the best way I could assist a child in my care was to provide materials for them to tear up. The act of tearing paper can be very satisfying. The sound is half the pleasure.
I grabbed some different colours of tissue paper and gave some broad suggestions of creating some flowers. We tore long strips of tissue paper, we tore small bits, we even ripped and shredded the paper with our fingernails. It seemed to help. Here are some of the finished products that resemble flowers. Some children didn’t have a finished product (just a pile of shredded paper) and other’s produced interesting pictures that they never glued down. The product was the process.