August 11th, 2015
If ever a student were to refer to another student as a "bad guy" outside of pretend play, we would definitely step in and explain the nuances of "helpful deeds" and "hurtful choices", etc. Our intention is always to encourage kids to view the real world with compassion rather than fear, and this has to start at home and in preschool.
The term "bad guy" is not, however, inherently cruel--it can be a useful shorthand when explaining the players in a story. The good news is that we've observed the children using this term not in hurtful ways, but as a part of positive, creative, cooperative play...
Deep into our morning open play, LA, LL, VI, and JN were walking around the Caterpillar classroom with their own fashioned "wands" (made of TinkerToys). LA announced that they were "bad queens". I asked, "What does that mean?" She explained, "We're bad, bad guys!"
The queens marched into the Butterfly classroom and turned RC and [my co-teacher] Chris "to ice". Chris laughed and "froze" in place. RC and JO beamed and started following the queens.
"[LL], [JN], and me are bad queens. We're bad, bad guys!"
JO declared, "I am the Bad King!" RC growled at [my other co-teacher] Judy--LL explained, "He's a creepy monster--creepy crow". ZD also joined in as his own monster, giggling and bouncing behind the older kids.
Now a group of seven, the kids continued their reign of icy terror, moving together to "our attic" in the Treehouse. Despite being "bad guys", they each left their wands under the stairs, observing our safety agreement banning hard toys from the Treehouse.
On her way up, LA sang, "Pets pets pets". The game crystallized: RC and JO became LA’s "pets". She and JN fed the boys "monster bones" before they escaped--JO explained, "They forgot to give us leashes, but we DO have collars".
LA came down to retrieve RC, who said, "I feel like being a anaconda", and later, "a tarantula". This prompted LL to exclaim, "Guys, there's a tarantula in our house! He's coming!"
The group journeyed back to the Butterfly classroom, donning capes, crowns, belts, and toy scissors. When they came back, JO and LL rode at the front of their "horses" (our green plastic rockers) while their passengers gave them "haircuts".
Back up in the Treehouse, the play returned to "bad guys" taking care of JO and VI as "doggy pets". At one point RC, a hissing monster, kindly asked LL, "You need help putting up the curtains?" and paused to lend a helping hand.
My observation of this "Bad Queens" game is that it was collaborative, inclusive, and fair. Despite calling themselves "bad", the students never did anything hurtful, and in fact followed our school's agreements to a T.
The children were calling each other and themselves "bad guys" constantly, and it was clearly understood that it was a fiction. Rather than appearing hurt, the players seemed delighted to be "bad". It added dimension to their story and seemed to do nothing to impede this diverse set of learners from coming together.
So yes, sometimes it is important to discourage the use of certain phrases for the positive growth of our preschool community. But other times, it can help to question our assumptions about this same language use, and see whether the children are in fact already taking it to a place of compassion rather than fear.