Friday, July 29, 2011

The Do-Over Sleep-Over

I have a house full of 8 year old girls. We're doing the 'do-over sleep over' tonight. 5 of the original 7 have returned for this slumber party even after I sent them all home last time when I got sicker than a dog. But now that I'm not feeling so vomitous... I am having a grand old time watching the drama from afar. Well at least I'm trying to stay away. They keep finding me.
But in my observations of these girls... I've come to the conclusion that each girl here has a role. And each of these roles is very demonstrative of the roles I learned about in my "Leadership Development" class when we talked about the roles of team members.
We have the informant. This is the child who feels it necessary to come back and find me every so often and give me to scoop on who is being mean or who got hurt during the game of hide and seek.
We have the leader. This is the child who takes charge and tries to delegate responsibilty. This child likes to determine whose turn it is to be "IT" and oddly enough, this child never has to be "IT" (sounds like one of my old bosses.)
We have the mediator. This is the child who doesn't want anyone to be upset. Therefore, this child likes to make sure that everyone is included, and if there is an issue (an issue that the informant has done her job and already told me ALL about it) that needs to be resolved, this child will find a way to make sure everyone is happy.
We have the observer. This is the child who likes to be included, but also is fine with sitting off to the side watching.
Lastly we have the trouble maker. This is the child who goes into the rooms that are known to be off limits. This is the child who likes to make a super big mess and then laugh about it. This is the child who likes to convince the other girls that the rules of hide and seek are really more like "guidelines" than actual rules. This is the child who may not get to come to the next party. I'm just saying.
But if you didn't already guess, Allison would be the mediator. She's making sure everyone is playing fair and following the rules. And then in the meantime, she is being very diplomatic and ensuring that all particpants in her party are treated fairly. That's my girl!!
And here we are approaching midnight and the party has yet to quiet down. I think it is time for the CEO of this operation to bring the party down a few notches so that she can maybe get some sleep. Where's my mediator...??

1 comment:

HeatherandTanner said...

I thought that this was so funny that I read it aloud to Tanner. He then told me after I read it that he thought that you would say that Allison was the troublemaker and not invited to the next party. Oh boy... lol