It is needless to say I was something of a celebrity in the Kite's Klub (TM Pending), with even a decent number of adults knowing of my exploits. This was in no small part thanks to Lilac Governess. Her wind magic really opened the doors to what was really possible. And she really helped me out of a few sticky situations—I owe my right arm’s continued existence to her. With all that she had done for me, I like to think I had given something back. To that end, I made strides to improve how the Kite's Klub (TM Pending) was run, leveraging my title of the God of Clear Skies' Chosen to gain credibility.
The most problematic, at least for me, was mealtime; other misadventures of the problem children didn't affect me much, but everyone suffered at mealtime. The main issue was that the seating was arranged by age, not sure why. This allowed pockets of mischief to form. Where I come from, everyone knows you put the problem children up front so you can keep an eye on them, so why not here as well?
I proposed the idea of an alternate assigned seating to Lilac Governess, who was initially hesitant. Apparently, it was tradition to do it this way, however, when asked what the benefit was to this arrangement, she was hard-pressed to answer. But once I explained my recommended seating arrangement and how it would give her better control of the problem children, it seemed like one of the fragments of her soul, that had been lost through one of her innumerable sighs, had returned.
The arrangement worked like this, you put the most mischievous children right next to you. The more issues you caused the closer to her you would be, with the most angelic children opposite her. But we could do better. This arrangement would still create pockets of insurgents, even worse because they were condensed. So let's put non-problematic children between them, with exemplars of refinement next to the problem children. I suggested she even deputize them, in a manner of speaking, to keep those rascals in check. Children like to think they have been given special responsibilities, especially if they are of the brown-nosing type, so I wagered they would be eager to help.
And this worked almost immediately. With the conspirators broken up, and the "deputized" children feeling like they now had a sacred duty to keep their charges in line, mealtime became a pleasant and relaxing break in the day... except when that meal was green fruit.
This resolved the supper time siege, but this was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to issues on Lilac Governess's plate. Don't get me wrong, most of the children behaved well enough, though they were children and still got into things from time to time, it was a handful of miscreants that were the real shakers and movers. Usually, you would deal with these kinds of kids swiftly and decisively. Lilac Governess was of the soft-handed school of discipline, however, never venturing from anything more than stern talking to, though the Deity's shrine might be an exception, but that only illustrated the point. They were well-behaved there, if only she could bring that same approach to the rest of her child-rearing.
I once suggested that she adopt a more corporal form of punishment for the more egregious infractions, and she was appalled, so that wasn't going to happen. I had to wonder if maybe she had a point. I didn't think a swift glove to the back of the head was likely to ruin someone's day, but it would cause a negative association with the behavior that caused it. Sure, it has been argued that spanking only indoctrinates children into the idea that it is okay to use violence. But I'm not advocating for full-on spanking, just a mildly painful slap, though personally, I think a good old-fashioned bottom rending would be highly effective in some of these cases. I don't think the prospect of getting slapped is terrifying, but it is still unpleasant and one would prefer to avoid it... unless you are into that kind of thing. Even animals use pain compliance to learn boundaries, so I think it's a viable option. However, Lilac Governess wouldn't hear of it.
Still, when present, She could deter bad behavior. But she couldn't be everywhere, and this was especially evident when we left the relatively small area of the den for the larger world. We need to add on top of this, that she was fairly new to the role of Governess, having had the role placed on her before she had finished her apprenticeship. Honestly, this job seemed like it was not cut out for one person. I believe daycares, with fewer children mind you, employ several caregivers to watch over them, and they only do so for a fraction of the day. In that light, Lilac Governess was a superhero. But even superheroes form leagues.
Could we recruit additional caregivers? Sometimes the parents would help out, but as far as formal reinforcements, I wasn't holding my breath. But perhaps we could promote from within our own ranks. Many of the older children were well-behaved and competent enough for 7 and 8-year-olds. If we could delegate a handful of younger children, maybe 3 or 4, to each of these children, they could take responsibility for keeping an eye on them. Taking it a step further, perhaps they could form teams, fostering camaraderie and healthy rivalries. The group would keep misguided children in line and not bring the group down, and the team leader could pass down their values to the children in their group.
In addition, and to a degree in conjunction with this, I proposed the idea of a merit and demerit system. This didn't have to be much. For starters, it could just be the equivalent of putting a gold star on the board, whenever a child did something good. You could also lose stars for making a nuisance of yourself. I even thought about the idea of having negative stars but thought better of it. Better to not even acknowledge bad behavior at all. Of course, it was also likely that only the kites predisposed to good behavior would care about this, with the bad kids being indifferent. So what if there were actual incentives for having a high merit count?
After our success at the dining table, Lilac Governess was open to hearing my suggestions and was willing to try my idea. The plan to form several teams of children did not go as smoothly as the meal arrangement. The children chosen to lead these groups, which also happened to be a number of the deputized children from said meal times, were excited about the idea. I think it might have gone to their heads a little, as they really tried to throw their weight around at the beginning, acting like little tyrants. This went about as well as you could expect. While they were technically in charge of these groups, they had no actual way to force compliance with their dictates. Many children were reluctant to even acknowledge these groups' existence. Still, I urged Lilac Governess to not give up on this. We just needed to tweak it.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Group meetings. We could have formal group meetings once a day, so the children could not escape the group dynamic completely. Furthermore, we needed to give them something to work towards as a team. Lilac Governess thought why not have them compete to complete chores. There were always things to do, and something never seemed to get done unless she herself did them.
"That sounds like a good idea. How would we implement it?" I had my own ideas, but I thought this kind of problem-solving would help Lilac Governess in the future.
"Hmm... Well, perhaps whoever completes the most?" She sounded a little unsure. We were a people of tradition and didn't usually venture into novel ideas. So Lilac Governess was engaging parts of her brain that probably didn't get much use.
"But some chores are more difficult or time-consuming." I was playing the role of teacher this time, though that was fair since I was technically older than her—probably.
"Maybe the difficult chores could be counted as more..." She threw out her chin in deep contemplation.
"That sounds good. What would they get?"
"Those merit things you proposed!" A lightbulb went off in her head like she had just solved a puzzle.
"Yes, yes, that works." I nodded vigorously in agreement. "Who would get the merits?"
"Well, the team that completes the most..." She shot me an unsure look. The kind you gave when you thought the answer was obvious, but something caused you to have doubts.
"True, but what about everyone else?"
"..."
"Okay, here is a thought, what if we..." There were 21 kites in the Kite's Klub (TM Pending) presently, and we formed five groups of four including the leaders; I excluded myself from this so we would have balance in the groups. This meant we would have a ranking from first to fifth. What if we gave the first team 4 merits, the second 3, the third 2, and so forth, with the fifth team getting nothing. The teams would receive this number of merits in total and the team leaders would distribute them. So first place could give merits to everybody, but all others would have to deprive somebody of them. It was also possible that the team leader would give them all to themselves. But they wouldn't be first for long in such a situation, and would likely soon find themselves dead last. I was hoping this would actually foster good leadership as those in charge learned the qualities of a true leader.
"That seems really... intricate." She cradled her head as if her brain had just pulled a muscle.
"Oh... Sorry, but I think it will be second nature once everyone gets used to it." I tried to reassure her. "Just one more thing..."
We put the plan into action, introducing the idea of merits and how they could be earned (through both personal and group deeds). They were confused but also intrigued. But it wasn't until she explained the value of having high merits that heads really turned. By spending merits, you could get choice fruits—previously she would just give these out as rewards, so it was basically the same thing—choose a meal to be served, or pick where we would spend our recreation that day. Of course, she could add more if other ideas came to mind later.
Lastly, I took it upon myself to offer some coaching on leadership—not that I was an expert or anything—but I knew the basics—I’ve read books. I was well respected by this point at four years old, and most of the new admissions thought I was much older—just short. A leader needs to put their team first, if the team is suffering, the leader should suffer the most. This will bring respect to the leader and better team cohesion. Be selfish and self-centered, and your team will likely fall apart. At least that's what I had read.
And with that, they were off to the races. It was a rocky start, but once everyone figured out how the system worked, there was rapid improvement. We later implemented a team handicap if one of their team members lost a merit. This wouldn't doom the team to failure, but would create the need for them to work harder, and incentive for them to keep their team in line outside of doing chores. With this, things improved considerably. The dastardly duo had graduated by this point, and only Dusty of the trifecta remained. He had matured a bit but still posed a challenge for his group to keep in line. I'm not sure how Dry-Wood and Gale would have fared, though Gale’s scoundrel ways didn't make too many cameos after... that day. I still felt bad for him...
By the end, I was almost a second in command here at the Kite's Klub (TM Pending). I was impressed by just how much deference Lilac Governess gave to me, she definitely wasn't a proud woman, but clearly a respectable one, for all her faults. So I suppose it shouldn't have come as a surprise when that day finally came.
----------------------------------------
Fox Magic Stats:
Force: Can lift around 2 times Indigo’s body weight, probably around 40 pounds.
Endurance: Able to hover for 1.5 hours.
Control: Can create a sphere of compressed air and independently manipulate multiple strata.
Focus: Power range: 3 feet, Effective range: 5 feet
Proprioception: Can sense individual hair follicles and tiny blood vessels.