Part 5: Chapter 7

Police Persons

Thursday, June 4, 2020
	Johnny was upset about having to stay out of the kitchen while lunch preparations were underway. So he grabbed the side of the domino bucket and scattered dominos across the wooden floor. This greatly distressed Theo because we have a rule that when quiet time is over, the children must clean up their space regardless of who made the mess. Johnny was scattering dominos into Theo's quiet time space.
	So Theo wrenches the now-empty domino basket out of Johnny's hands, grabs Johnny around the middle, and rolls over onto the floor with Johnny squealing in his arms. 
	In the meantime, I’m giving commands that fall on deaf ears. "Leave Johnny alone!" "I see what he's doing!" "Don't touch Johnny!” "Get your hands off him!" "Stop being the police!" "I will take care of it!"
	Finally, the squealing dies down as Theo lets go of Johnny, and Johnny quickly moves on to a puzzle, forgetting his unpleasant experience in two seconds.
	"I hate it when you say I'm the police!" Theo shouts at me.
	Try to explain. “Theo, I see what Johnny is doing. I’m going to make Johnny pick up those dominos. I will see that he does this. You don't have to. You can tell me, ‘Mama! Look what Johnny is doing!' But when you police Johnny, you steal my job. I can't do it anymore! Now Johnny needs comfort. You've got to stop yourself from running in and doing my job. Let me do it!"
	And with that, I help Johnny pick up the dominos, wondering if this scenario applies to the most recent riots. Are these protestors like a big brother trying to make his little brother pay? And what if Mama doesn’t show up? What if Mama doesn’t make Little Brother pick up the dominos? Does that mean Big Brother can be the police now?