Tea Time

Homework is something that no one ever seems eager to do. After a long day of being at school our kids come to camp, play a quick game and then we tell them to buckle down to get their homework done. Now it ever goes quite as simple as that, it can be a lot of reminding them over and over to sit down, take their books out of their bags only to find they don’t have a pencil (who doesn't keep a pencil with their homework? Apparently every kid that comes to camp). I can’t blame them, I’m sure I would be the same, who wants to spend more time sitting and doing work? We try to make it fun, playing hangman, scrabble, taboo and other things as much as we can but our latest discovery has surprised me the most.

Just a week ago one of our boys started asking for a cup of tea when he got to camp. In observing him we were able to notice a calmness that he showed while drinking tea. We discussed it and yesterday we set up a tea station during homework time, over half the kids requested tea. It calmed them down, they were quieter and better focused. It didn’t work magic but it adds a different dynamic to homework time. It is fun to see them all making their little mugs of tea and sipping away at as they work.

Sometimes things can be really simple and we just are caught thinking too hard.

“There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.”

~Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

“Tea is the magic key to the vault where my brain is kept.”

~Frances Hardinge