Right and Might and Kids and Playgrounds

Life is a leap in the dark without rules.

'Getting old isn't for sissies' is dead on.
I've been working for a daycare. Lots of hugs. Smiles. Prezzies of color-scribbled pages.
Also lots of work - physical work, cleaning, stooping, thinking how to make positive comments to a screaming, emotionally-tsunamied toddler in mid-meltdown or pro-actively teach said toddler how to request to use the toilet instead of their pants. I've adored much of it: teaching thirteen 3 to 4-year-olds how to eat their first drumstick without becoming drenched in barbeque sauce is good, messy fun.
It's all good when the children are good, and often even when they're bad (not a term child care officials sanction, but nonetheless used sotto voce amongst workers). Where there is predictable structure and known, clear boundaries with immediate rewards and consequences in an atmosphere of respect, even the meltdowns are survivable. These are immature human beings whose minds and bodies get overwhelmed by small matters who will, as you watch, grow out of it, learn to cope and become comfortable with social intercourse. I've seen them evolve from sitting in the middle of the room devastated and crying their hearts out demanding mommy or daddy because someone snatched their toy. With some, you just hug them until the moment passes and they feel safe again. Others resist touch and work it out on their own. Some let other kids help them. In all cases, they eventually flick a switch and run off to play without a backward glance. They don't need you anymore--but they know you're there.
Daycare is hugely important in a country filled with double wage earners. The parents who have good daycares are hugely fortunate.
Staff is key. Many staffers are young earnest women with no experience with children who want to be friends and play with their friends (a daycare word for children or students or class).
That works until the friends push the boundaries a little.
Which is their job.
We set the expectations; kids test them to see if we mean it and if it applies to everyone. Applying to everyone is important to children. They know life isn't fair, but rules should be equal.
It has occurred to me that the Wall Street Protesters are protesting unequal rules. Not that life isn't fair, they know that the billions owned by a favored few vastly outnumber the resources of the working poor, but what gets their goat is that those few are not held to the same rules. They seemingly have no rules.
That's not right.
Which is way bigger than fair in daycare. Just use a word like supper instead of dinner or say autumn instead of fall and you. are. not. right. 
Bankers and other capitalists flaunting the rules and making profits on the backs of those held to those rules is just. not. right.
Kids, who are corrected more frequently than an untrained puppy, know that. They learn the right words, actions, thoughts and beliefs by frequent correcting by parents, teachers and other kids. They delight in correcting those who express other - ipso facto wrong - words, actions, thoughts or beliefs -  and sitting in the catbird seat for a change.
And if something's not right, they look to us to fix it. If we don't, they get to thinking rules don't matter.
I've seen what happens when kids get to that point. If the teachers don't restructure and reinstate rules for everybody, it's Lord of the Flies time.
Money buys amoral anarchy for those who have it, always has, but the filthy rich were savvy enough to conceal their dirty doings from the hoi polloi. Now these capitalists rub their faces in their excesses like bullies on a playground; flaunting payoffs, lifestyles and perks while smirking all the way to their tax havens.   Schoolyard bullies are powerless if no one plays with them. They suddenly recall their manners and use social skills to get the attention they crave. It would be fair if the Wall Streeters could do that to the rogue Capitalists.