Its good to be back today in our original setting. Today one of the girls is sick, and a few of the boys are away, so today is a smaller group. One boy made a comment today saying “its nice … isn’t here, it is so much quieter”. The others in the group all agreed and laughed.

Despite saying this group didn’t have as much to talk about. One of the boys that wasn’t there was the group leader, without him the boys weren’t so easy to start any sort of play. Eventually they started to run around and play a reenactment of one of the playstation games. Again one of the boys removed himself from the group and hang around in the trees.

The youngest boy today stayed by my side all session. His brother hit him with his stick, and the boy who had been hit said “you are always so selfish and only think of yourself”. The boy that had been hit by the stick began to cry. The older boy just walked away shrugging his shoulders. He then tried to join the group of the younger boys but they had already commenced their Pokemon play. He then just sat himself down and excluded himself from everyones play.

The only girl today was much quieter than usual. She went to the Den by herself and began playing on her own. She did not interact with any other of the children until we gathered once again in the group and had fruit time.

In todays afternoon session all 4 of the boys were here. I was really excited for this session with them. Today we just made the fire and had tea and buscuits with all of them. One of the boys told me he was going to be taking his gases this year, he is one of the few in his school who is able to take these exams. All the other boys began shouting things at him, “you are not clever” or “boring”. The boy ignored these comments and continued to talk.

Today I was so amazed by this young boy. I am also continually challenged in the second session. I want to be encouraging and create the right environment for these children to feel safe and comfortable, to be able to create and explore their dreams and ideas.