Communication and Meaning: Not All Words Are Bad

This is a ninja (clipartion.com)

I really enjoy substitute teaching. Even when I am in a "difficult" class I have fun. Perhaps it is because I have a little bit of evil in me and relish in the challenge of an upstart student or two. I also enjoy not having to deal with school politics. I don't plan on being in one place long enough to get sucked in to any drama.

Until one day I inadvertently did, and it had to do with a word. I was sitting in the staff lounge and I overheard a teacher talking to the other teachers in the room about a memo of some sort that said teachers and students were no longer allowed to say the word...

Raising a "Normal" Child - Social and Emotional Learning

One day, while watching one of my son's soccer practices, I began to notice how the kids interacted with each other and their coach. If a conflict arose, there would be some words exchanged and maybe a few huffs and eye-rolls here and there. But whatever the problem was either got fixed, or it wasn't important enough to continue talking about. The ones that did require some intervention were brought up to the coach, who appeared to handle the disagreements appropriately and to everyone's satisfaction. The coach always maintained a very positive attitude and no one was ever singled out as "the problem." He was able to get everyone back on track.

So a question popped into my head: My son had difficulties getting along with other kids in his school, but he had no trouble working with his teammates in soccer, why was that?