Supporting Gus
Today Gus started Nature Discovery, I know Vaughn (his Dad) and Harry (his brother) had been really looking forward to him starting and Vaughn was parent help today. Gus has only recently become more involved in group play and holding conversations with teachers, he is at times reluctant to join in and be involved with group activities. I was feeling a little apprehension for Gus today and hoped that the build up wouldn't back fire, especially when Vaughn told me Harry had shared with Gus in great depth about what would happen at Nature Discovery. As leaving time approach Gus had a melt down, he didn't want to wear the wet weather gear and no amount of convincing worked. I knew this was a delegate situation, I didn't want Gus to loose his confidence and really wanted him to have a great day, I really did believe that he would be able to over come these emotions with the support of myself and Emma. I decided to take the stress out of the situation and told Gus that I would pack his wet weather gear and he could put it on once we arrived at camp. This calmed Gus and with tears we were able to get him in the van and sitting with Harry.

I tried really hard to reassure Gus and his Dad that everything would be okay and that hopefully things would improve once we arrived, I could see that Vaughn was really questioning if he should go and he also voiced this to me. Vaughn also said that he wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be able to help today. I thought this would also make Gus feel uneasy.

I think by reassuring everyone and supporting Gus, trying to be really in tune to how he was feeling I was able to relieve some of his stress, help him work through his sad feelings because I could see the bigger picture and I really wanted him to succeed and be part of Nature Discovery. Gus ended up having a great day, We all supported him, Harry did a great job and the other children really stepped up too. I feel that there were many positive aspects that came from his negative start and it made me realize the big impact on a child's learning that I can have. Vaughn was really appreciative of the effort I went to in supporting Gus and he said that the story and Storypark post that I did was a great way of Gus being able to share this experience with his extended whanau, one of the poppas even requested a couple of the photos.

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