volver
This is an interesting discussion.
How far should we go? Should I be expected to forego the interesting trip that I had been looking forward to for a couple of weeks and paid good money for, because a group of children want to scream and run around in a noisy and intrusive way? And the adult with them is unable to do anything about it? Do you think all of 10 or so of them were neurodivergent?
Ten children with one adult is not a successful ratio, unless the adult is trained and/or experienced in handling them. With children you have to deal with each case of over-excitement (euphemism alert) separately and calm down the perpetrator, which doesn't work if the rest of them are also high as kites. That group should have had at least two other adults, and they should have had some experience of children en masse, preferably with the same children that they were supervising, so that they knew in advance which individuals would need most calming.
Josanne's colleague has hit it on the nail about there being a "family clown" usually a boy and/or the youngest child, but not always. The more he is rebuked, the worse he gets, and punishments seem to run off him like water off a duck's back. It is as though being noticed for being bad is better than not being noticed at all - and he is often a child who is either ignored by his parents or over-shadowed by older or cleverer siblings, so misbehaving is his moment of attention. There is often a "class clown" too - the same description. We all know adults who have never outgrown the phase.
I don't know whether Louis fits this description or not, I haven't observed him for long enough, but I do imagine that the day of that concert must have been about the most exciting of his life. He must have been up early and travelled for ages. He'd been to Wales for Jubilee celebrations there, then back for the concert, with lots of noise and colour and pageantry, and thousands of people, and all his family present and enjoying the event, but there wasn't much in it that would interest a boy of 4. That was a long day for a small boy, and he must have been very tired. His attention span at that age just isn't enough to sit still for hours "being good" although he is tired and bored. No wonder he was restive.
I thought his mother was doing her best to keep him from exploding. "Uncle Mike" would have been better to keep out of it, or produce something to take his attention. He needed a distraction, not criticism. Someone could have had a colouring book and a packet of felt tips, and challenge him to colour a whole page without going over the lines with a prize if he succeeded, or produce an Ipad with some games on it.
