Do you remember what it was like to be four years old? I want to be with you. Maybe I can be with both of you. Five years old? Are you going to be in love with me? Yeah. Hello? I can't get out! Oh, my God, that boy! This is where futures are formed. Go, go, go! This year, new children... ..new challenges... Oh, I give up. ..in a brand-new school, where every corner has been rigged with cameras... Oh, they're watching us! ..and wired for sound. Who is that who's just screaming? They're gross. No! Arrgh! Girls! Who the hell are they? This is epic. With unprecedented access to every tussle... You keep having turns. ..every kindness... You can be my friend. Thank you. ..and all the raw emotion... Oh, no. Oh, no! ..we eavesdrop on their secret lives. I love you, Taysia. This week, it's the four-year-olds. You're not listening to me! You're not listening to me! You're not listening to me! You're not listening to me! Subtitles by Ericsson. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Able 2017 It's midsummer, and ten four-year-olds are meeting for the very first time. So I'm going to see you later. Can I have a kiss? Daddy does work... and Mummy... is good at making phone calls. Bye-bye, Mummy. For the next five days, the children will be looked after by teachers Kate and Simon. And watching their every move are child-development experts Professor Paul Howard-Jones and Dr Sam Wass. These children are about to go through one of the biggest step-ups of their lives. Most of them have spent the majority of their lives so far in a small family unit. Here we see them meeting nine new children for the first time. These four-year-olds are just starting to learn basic social skills. How are they going to cope with making friends? It's going to be a massive challenge for them. Give us a cuddle. OK, you have a good day. Bye. See you later, OK. Have a good day. Hello! Hi. You can sit wherever you like. 'We all remember that experience of walking in 'to a sea of unfamiliar faces.' How exciting it can be but also how terrifying. As adults, we've got a range of behaviours that we know are socially appropriate things to do in that setting. Children don't have that safety crutch, and that makes it all the more terrifying. Are you a bit shy? One day, I did hurt my head. Do you know, I was looking at some pizza, didn't watch where I was going, and do you know what happened next? I walked straight into a lamppost. CHILD LAUGHS I've got a spot on my arm. Give us a kiss. Bye! You OK, Fabian? Yes. If you were a king for one day... Yeah? ..what would you do? I would fly. Because I want to be a butterfly. Who wants to play racing cars? Me, me, me! I can go super fast. I'm going to choose a few of us to go outside and play for a little bit and a few of us are going to play inside for a little bit. We're good to go! It's mid-morning, and the children are heading out to explore the playground. Look at the new bike. Let's play with them! There are six children but only two trikes. Can I go on that bike? I've not been on a bike before. BIKE BELL RINGS Oh, OK, you can go on it. Evie-Rae has been on the trike for ten minutes. BIKE BELL RINGS Wow! SHE WHINES LOUDLY Give me a turn! What are do you doing? I want to have another go and you keep having turns. I only just started! EVIE-RAE GROANS A recent theory suggests that children are genetically predisposed to be one of two types. Orchids and dandelions. Some are naturally robust children. When something goes wrong, they just shrug and get on with it. These are dandelion children. Dandelions grow anywhere, whatever the environment. But others are predisposed to be more sensitive. When something goes wrong, they feel it more. These are called orchid children. Orchids are beautiful flowers, but only flourish in the right environment. Look at Taysia, she wants to join in. Does she dare? Come on, come on, go! You can do it! She's too shy. She's never the loudest child or the quickest child or the one to, like, jump straight in, she likes to suss the situation out. I started this a long time ago, I did. This is a tall castle. A princess castle. It's nearly as tall as me! Taysia lives in Port Talbot in Wales, with parents Samantha, a full-time mum, Lee, a builder, and younger brother, Bailey. In that little bowl there is two little screws. Can you get them for me? Yeah. She looks up to Lee so much, she really, really wants to be a builder. SHE BABBLES Oh! It's almost the end of the day and Taysia is searching for a friend. Will you come and play with me? Will you play...with me? I do feel for Taysia today. Poor thing, she's just not getting involved. Some children get their strength from within. They don't need friendships or social networks to flourish in an environment. But Taysia is a child who gets all of her strengths from her friendships. So finding these friends is going to be a big challenge for the rest of her week in the playgroup. It's day two, and in the classroom,... ..ten eggs have been placed in an incubator. Putting these eggs in the classroom is a splendid way to stimulate discussion about life. Let's see if the eggs are hatched. How does life come into the world? How does life leave the world? They haven't hatch-ed yet. And if these eggs came from a chicken, which came first, the chicken or the egg? The egg. Egg. From the chickens. I don't know. Are you messing with me? I think we should keep checking on them, what do you think? You never know, they might even hatch today. They might, mightn't they? Yeah. You have in front of you an enormous egg. At the moment, it's looking a bit plain. I particularly like eggs that are decorated. The children have been split into pairs to decorate their giant eggs. And there's a prize for the best one. So... Um, question. Yes. That's not a question. It's not a question. Look at my beautiful colours. Wow. I made a fantastic colour. Let's do some gold. Yeah. Yeah! This is fun, isn't it? We need to... You got it on me. Sorry. It's OK, I don't mind. I can just wipe it on my trousers. This is fun, isn't it? Are you going to reply, Enzo? 'This is fun, isn't it?' She's said it twice now. Look at our egg, look at our egg. With Enzo, it's all about getting the praise from the group. And Taysia, it's all about using this as an opportunity to build relationships with Enzo. 'They've got very different motivations here.' We're going to be the winner. Yeah. Who's going to win? Us, us, us! Well, ours is really good,... ..cos it...is so good. Ours is really good, isn't it? Ours is amazing, huh? So, what do you say? So what do you think for ours? # Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah! # There is... Wait, hold on, we haven't finished yet. That's the time, everyone has to stop. I think I've made my decision. The winner of the egg-decorating challenge is... Enzo and Taysia. Oh! As well as getting the golden egg, you also get these. Are they chocolate? Yeah. Chocolate! Oh, look at Layton's face! Yeah. I think if looks could kill, Enzo would be all over the walls. We'll share our chocolates with you, but first, there's a competition. 'Mind you, did he discuss that with Taysia?' No, he just walked out round the front and said, 'I'm going to share out the chocolate coins now.' I like yours. Thank you. It's the best ever. Oh, it's the suck-up-to-Enzo game. That's smart of them, to figure that out. I also like yours, because... because... because you did those ribbons over. That's why I did really like yours. You done the best one ever. Thanks, everyone. Thanks to Enzo, the chocolate coins are still up for grabs. Shall I tell you the rules? It's musical statues. Ready? Everyone get down on the dance floor. 'Do you know who's most at risk of not getting any chocolate coins from this?' Taysia. Yeah. Ready? ENZO SINGS WORDLESSLY ENZO STOPS SINGING ABRUPTLY Hey, you moved. No, wrong game! Ready, steady, go. ENZO SINGS WORDLESSLY ENZO STOPS SINGING ABRUPTLY 'I mean, this is exceptional behaviour at this age,' being able to organise a group of children like this at four years old! The winning team is... your team. You get this chocolate. Most children would have said, 'Hey, what about me?' But not Taysia. And that results in Enzo accidentally overlooking her. I think Taysia's going to have to learn to be a little bit more pushy and learn that that can benefit herself and her friends. 1 THINKS: 'I blame the ocean. That's what divides us as people. 'I mean, if we drained all the sea from the planet, then we'd be connected. RADIO PLAYS IN CAR 'I have two PhDs. Should I go for a third? 'I don't wanna throw the sea away. 'I mean, you've gotta keep it; it's of some use.' CAR HONKS 'Maybe up in space, in a bowl. 'Of course, we'd have to house all the animals. 'Meanwhile, down on Earth, all those shipwrecks could become playgrounds for kids; kids of all nations!' TYRES SCREECH, CRASH! RADIO CONTINUES PLAYING BREATHES LOUDLY Fabian, do you want to play with me? Maybe. Two days in and Taysia is trying a different approach. 'Is it ever difficult to make friends?' Sometimes. If they keep running around. I heard a song called... SHE SINGS WORDLESSLY Do you know that one? No. And what happens then? You go, run and chase after them. Arms stretched. Thumbs up. Once you've done this, you've done that and then that... SHE SINGS WORDLESSLY Shall I show you? Do you know a song called choo-choo-wah-choo-choo-wah? I don't know. Shall I show you? I don't want to. I don't want to do it. I don't... Arms stretched, thumbs up. SHE SINGS WORDLESSLY Being an orchid-like, sensitive child means that you feel it more when a social setback happens. In some people, that can lead to them shying away from running the risk of getting hurt again, whereas others are prepared to take that chance to get what they want. Taysia is showing great bravery here. The eggs have been in the classroom for 24 hours. There's a crack! I saw a crack! Where's the crack? 'How do they get out of their eggshell?' They just point their beak on, then... Then it cracks. There's a crack here, on the side. # Chick, chick, chick, chick, chicken. Lay a little egg for me. # All right, Fabian, back in your seat in five... Four, three, two, one. All right, so, in a moment, I'm going to bring something in and it's going to be sitting in front of you but it's really important that we don't touch it. Just leave them there. No touching. Leave them alone for the moment. I'm going to pop out and do a couple of things outside and Simon's going to come and help me. If you've been able to leave your piece of chocolate and not eat it, then you'll get a second piece. If I come back in and anyone has eaten their chocolate, then no-one gets the second piece. This chocolate task is based on the classic marshmallow test, where you have to defer gratification of eating the sweet in front of you in order to get two sweets later on. The difference here is, it's become a social task. Everybody's going to win together or lose together and that means you have to take into account the thoughts and feelings of your friends around you and for a four-year-old, that is very challenging. Uh-oh, he's got some on his finger. He's going to lick his finger! Game's over! That's going to make it so much harder now, cos he's going to have the taste of chocolate in his mouth. No, don't! No, Fabian! Spit it out. Come on! Now you don't get another one. Dead gross! I just saw him bite it! I'm not eating it. Me neither. I'm not even eating it. Look! Oh, dear. Look, there's some teeth marks in it. She said, if you even touch it, you'll not get one. Heyyyyy! That's not very niiiiice! He is a handful and he does try to get away with things, but he's not nasty in his ways, so because of that, he does get away with a lot more than maybe he should. Fabian lives in west London with mum, Claire, a commercials producer, and dad, Dale, a telecommunications engineer. No, no, not with food, Fabian. You know I don't like that. He's very much his own mind. He's not a puppet. He won't do something you tell him to. Fabian! No, that's disgusting. I'm not happy. Sometimes he doesn't always listen, which means sometimes that he breaks the rules and has to sit on the naughty step. Do you want to play with me? He's been going to nursery since he was 18 months. We've been really lucky. He didn't even want us there. We dropped him, he was like, 'Bye!' Yeah. And we were like, 'Really?' Dad, wait till I say ready, steady, go! I call him an arch-villain. You know what I mean? He likes Batman but then he likes the Joker better. Here you go. See? I love the Joker! When he's quiet, you're nervous and when he's not quiet, you're nervous! I have here everyone's second piece of chocolate, but first, did anyone eat any of their chocolate? Not me! He did! He did! Fabian, did you eat some of it? Yes. Remember, the rule was that if anyone ate their chocolate... ..that meant no-one got a second piece. So, unfortunately, these bits of chocolate are not going to get handed out. Unlucky! Only one piece of chocolate for the children, and they know exactly who to blame. Fabian let us down. That silly Fabian! He never learns his lesson. Fabian, why did you do this to us? I think Fabian is going to become more naughty as a result of this incident. It's affected his sense of his identity within the group. He is now firmly established as the naughty one. CRIES: Ow! No! CRIES: Ow! Ow! SHE CRIES It's the dawn of a new day and there are signs of new life in the classroom. Baby chicks! The baby chicks have hatched! Baby chicks! 'Where do babies come from?' Tummies! 'And how do they get into the tummy?' The dad puts them in... ..by love. This is the best day of our lives, right, guys?! 'How do babies get out of their mummies' tummies?' Don't ask! They come through the nunny. Do you know what colour babies are when they first came out? Asa, my little brother, who's one, was red when he came out. It's the best day in the world! The children are about to have a close encounter with the newest additions to the classroom. Be really gentle. Gorgeous little chick! Look at that! Do you want to, very gently, pass it over to Wilson, so Wilson can have a... I can't do that! That's right. You can move your hands very gently like this towards Wilson and Wilson's going to come towards you. I can't... I can't do it, Kate! That's all right. I'll put my hands underneath yours, OK? Ready? Very gently! Whoa! I can't do it, Kate! Did you like them? Yeah, I wanted to eat them. Because they look delicious! Taysia's got her hands ready already. She can't wait! So I'm going to sit it in your hand. Be very careful. Can't get up. If you want to, you can give a little pet with your finger. Oops! Let go, let go. No grabbing. He can't fly yet. Let go. It's very difficult. It is difficult to listen to instructions and think about anything else when you've got one of these in your hand. Makes you realise how well the kids have been doing. Yeah. Shall we pass it to Taysia, let Taysia have a little hold? And then, please can I have another turn? Cos he's so beautiful. Thank you for coming back, Fabian. Brilliant job! OK. We are going to send you off to play in just a little bit, but when you go off... Fabian? Quickly sit back down in your spot. I'll sit here. No, I need you next to Orla, please. The children are in the amphitheatre but Fabian's in no mood to sit still. Fabian, no. There are lots of different layers to Fabian's behaviour here. Sometimes it comes from a sheer sense of fun. It's boring to sit down in a line with the rest of the other children and it can be a sign of curiosity that he wonders, 'What if I don't do what I'm told? What's going to happen then?' OK, Fabian, no more, OK? Cos otherwise everyone else has to wait and that's not very fair. So, this morning, we're going to send you off to play but instead of playing the way you normally would... ..you are going to have one of these paper chains... ..attached to each one of your wrists. To play? While you're playing. And the winner of this competition is who can play for the longest without breaking their chain. The winners of this competition will each get one of these bubble wands. Is it OK if it accidentally breaks? Well, if it accidentally breaks, that's still a break. This is a really simple task designed to look at children's ability to compromise. Now, stay there. I'll go here. No! As adults, we're used to that feeling of having to come up with something that's halfway between what you want and what someone else wants. No! No! No! No! At four years old, this is something that can be really challenging, because it requires understanding that what's in your head is not necessarily the same as what's in someone else's. Kate, he won't listen to me! You're not listening to me! You're not listening to me! You're not listening to me! You're not listening to me! You're not listening to me! Where shall we go first in the playground, Fabian? First you get to choose where we go, then I get to choose where we go. OK. I think if I was Orla, I'd be seeking commitment from Fabian... Yeah. ..that he's going to put some effort into this, cos I don't have any doubt that Fabian could do this if he really wanted to. We saw in the chocolate task, he's the child that finds it hardest to inhibit his natural instincts. I'm not sure that he has difficulty in regulating his behaviour. I'm just not sure that he always wants to. Go. Ready? Set? Go! You're going to break our chain! No, you're going to break our chain if you keep... Oh, that's one pair that have broken. Oh, that didn't last very long, did it? Oh, poor Orla. She did such good strategizing. She was just with Fabian. Uh-oh! Be careful with each other. We... We... Stop. We can't go on there. Don't go on there because I want to win the blue one. No, I want to win. No, I'm going to win it for you, OK? Oh! You can win the... Purple one for you. OK. We've got to stay close to each other, haven't we? Yes. I'll stay by you so we don't accidentally get broken. We're going to win! Don't... No, don't break our... Oh! He broke ours. Fabian broke ours! I was really angry! 'Why were you so angry?' Because he did that on purpose. No, stop! Be careful! WAILING He broke it! He broke it! Fabian did... And he broke it! CRYING He's broken our one. Come here. Come with me. He's broken our one. Come with me. Can we fix it? See, this is going to make Fabian more excluded from the group, this idea of... Yeah, it is. ..he's the naughty one. This is very directly oppositional. 'If I can't win at this task, nobody gets a chance to.' Yeah, I think Fabian's creating some problems for himself here. So what we're going to do is we're going to go inside, just for a little bit... No! ..and have some time to calm down, OK? Because what's happening out here is, you're finding it really difficult to be kind to the other children, OK? You were the second one who got broken, weren't you? No, actually, we were the last one. Oh! He's really not very nice to us, is he? Fabian broke them. It's because he's naughty. From a neuroscience perspective, we know that the pain of being excluded from a social group activates very similar brain regions to physical pain, and I think you can see that here in Fabian. He's actually hurting from being excluded from the group. I don't have any friends. THEY SCREAM It's midweek, and there's one area of the playground that has become particularly coveted. Get out of our treehouse! What? Now! CHILD GROWLS That's my hat. No, get off it. I want to come in our treehouse. No, this is our treehouse. That's yours. You're naughty! 'That playhouse gives you a great view of the playground, doesn't it?' You know, you feel like a king and a queen up there. And therefore it becomes a prestige piece of territory. Yeah. Just the fact that you're occupying it means that you feel a little bit special. Up here next. This is my treehouse. No! Not yours. Taysia is the third person Evie-Rae has excluded from the treehouse. Go down with your little fwiend! Hmph! HE GASPS What did she say?! HE CHUCKLES 'Go down with your little friend!' Evie-Rae said that to Taysia?! Oh, no! I want to give Taysia a hug. Oh, she looks really upset, poor thing. How about that for a put-down? Her role in the family could be described a little bit like the boss. SCREAMING: Grandad! I think he asked her first. Grandad! It's like she can do whatever she want. LAUGHING: That's your fault. No. Evie-Rae lives in Sale, Greater Manchester, with her sister, brother, grandparents, aunties and parents, Rachel and Rick. Rick and I met in the Philippines. We lived there for five years before we decided to move back to England, and I was pregnant with Evie at the time. We moved in with my mum and dad and all my sisters. So that's all she's known, all the family around her at all times. Why did the cow cross the road? Why? Because it wanted to go to the moo-vies! I think, being the youngest, she's had a lot of attention from all of us. Go, go, go! Anything that she wants, people have done to please her. Can I put the cream on? OK, that's enough. Just a bit more. As Mum, who works full-time, I've kind of had to accept that other people in the house... ..will have a role in disciplining the children. Ring, ring, ring, ring. Hello. Who's that? Evie. There's an awful lot of people interacting with her. That's quite taxing on her, really. So you have to make allowance for the fact that she is living in a big house. I think her behaviour's pretty good, really. Give me a kiss goodnight. Don't want to go to bed! OK. 'We're not very strict, are we?' It depends. Sometimes. Sometimes we're strict, sometimes not. Yeah. Lord Jesus, please pray for Daddy's arm... ..and make it better, and make all the pain go away if he has pain. In Jesus' name, Amen. How about when we go to sleep? Aaa-men! My treehouse! With the treehouse unattended, Taysia and Amelia-Rose seize the opportunity to venture inside. No, it's my treehouse! This is our house. You're just trying to annoy me, aren't you? You're not being very nice to me. Is her? And her's a little bit grumpy, isn't her? Yeah, she's a bit grumpy. Her's not letting me in the treehouse! That's not very nice, is it? 'There's a collective opinion forming, isn't there,' about Evie-Rae's behaviour? That girl's not being very nice, is her? Oh, Evie, you should have let Amelia into that playhouse. That was a bad... Big mistake! The troublemaker's under the house! Oh, my God. We need to find another home. That girl's really not nice. Yes, she's not even my friend. Her needs to learn her lesson, doesn't her? Yes. We are going to have a dance competition. When I put the music on, I want you to do your best dancing. Right, ready, steady...go! MUSIC: Chicken Payback by The Bees It's mid-morning, and the children are given a chance to let off steam and shake their tail feathers. I can see some brilliant dancing. Attracting admiring glances from their classmates. Do what I do. Look what dance I'm doing. Well done! I've got a spade. I've got my hat. Oh, it's taking a long while! It's the afternoon, and Leighton has something on his mind. Are you going to marry me? I've already got someone to marry. What? At my old nursery, I'm already going to marry for real. Who? Daniel. Daniel? You probably don't know him. Just pretend I'm Daniel, yeah? Hi, Daniel. There's one girl that I really, really like. And does she play games with you? Mm-hm. You know Daniel's really, really strong? Can you even carry that? Yep! Ugh! Why are you marrying Daniel instead of me? Because I just kissed him. What, on the lips? Yeah. And you can't kiss or dating too many mans. Since the fracas in the treehouse, Amelia-Rose and Evie-Rae have been keeping their distance. Come on. I'm coming. But, as the day goes on, there are signs of change. Oh, my God. Do you think that Evie-Rae and Amelia are sort of monitoring each other quite carefully? Oh, yeah. 'You're absolutely right, Paul. They are just constantly' watching each other now, aren't they? Do you like her now? Yeah. Did you have some arguments at the beginning? No. CHUCKLING Yes, we did. (We actually did.) I don't think we did. OK. We didn't. I'm going to take her back to our home. She could come with our home if she don't be nasty to us. Don't be nasty, Kitty. Come on the lead. 'If I was to really, really, psychologise about this, 'I'd say that Evie-Rae realised she had to try and use' strategy and stop being so dominating, and she experimented with taking a subordinate role, as part of becoming a cat. And she suddenly realised that, actually... It works. ..this is OK. That's not a bad theory, Paul. Do a trick. Miaow! We'll go back home and I'll get you a new toy. Come on. Oh... Fabian's idea of fun hasn't always appealed to the other children. Elsewhere in the playground, Taysia is also playing on her own. Do you want to follow me. Huh? Follow me. OK. 'I think Taysia's found an alliance.' Not one I would've expected, I've got to say. Pretend that I was your owner. OK? And I was throwing the ball for you. Go and fetch it! Fetch and bring it back here! Friends are good, and they're good for me to play with,... ..but I'm allergic to nuts. Go that way! Go that way! 'Of all the children' we thought that she'd bond with, Fabian was pretty much bottom of the list, I think. Fabian, more than anybody else, has been quite physically assertive at times, hasn't he? 'Where as Taysia is exactly the opposite.' Keep going. Make sure you don't fall in there. Cos you might fall into water and kittens and cats don't like water. Shall I go and swim in there? Yes. I'll put my bathers on, shall I? Yeah. And show you them? Look at me in my bathers. I like them. Do you? I can jump in the water now. Are you a good boy or a naughty boy? A good boy. Taysia, what do you think? Is he a good boy or a naughty boy? Good. 'So, at first glance, it might appear that 'Taysia is a classic orchid child and Fabian is a classic dandelion. 'But, in fact, as you get to know them better, you see that Taysia is stronger than she might appear at first glance and Fabian is more sensitive. No child is either an orchid or a dandelion. Every child is somewhere along the continuum between the two. Somebody's in our house! This is our house. You go away. No. Yeah. This is our house. Argh! This is our house! Argh! SHE ROARS Oh, look! She's just trying to join in. Fabian's teaching her to be assertive. SHE ROARS You roar like a lion, Taysia. You roar. I really like you. Yeah. You do. Jump through this hoop. Good boy! Shall I show you? SHE SCREAMS CHILD LAUGHS The children are nearing the end of their week together. And they're facing their biggest challenge yet... to stay in one place for more than two minutes. We're going to do this, aren't we, Taysia? Yeah. The task is to remain inside the hoop until Kate returns. Just jump up and down in it. You won't win. They're out, aren't they? Yeah. Really, to stay in the hoop, you have to be able to develop strategies to occupy one's attention. Group hug. It's a challenge for a four-year-old, because you're having to monitor your own thought processes and think, 'This is not a good play activity inside a hoop, but this activity, 'maybe having a chat about something quietly, that might work.' Do you know when I need to take my glasses off? At night? For bath, bed and for roly-polies. Taking your dungarees off? Off. No, don't take your dungarees off. I'm taking them off. SHE GIGGLES Kate? When is it, this going to be over? Careful! Are you all right, Leighton? Yeah. That was so funny. That was so funny. Don't do that again. With the week drawing to a close, some of the eggs still haven't hatched. Let's see. Chick check! They're doing all right. Chick check. Look, look. Look. That one's hatching. THEY SHOUT EXCITEDLY Baby chick's hatching! Look! Careful. Baby chick's hatching! Look. Is it moving? Is it trying to get out? I think it's trying to stay in its egg. Cos it's not moving, is it? Maybe it's tired. One of the chicks hasn't made it through the night. It's dead. Does that mean we'll never be able to see it again? Yeah. So sad. Ah... Ooh, you smell nice. HE LAUGHS This is the worst day of our life. Yeah. The chick died in its shell. That's sad, innit? What does it mean when it's dead? It means that it never comes out of its, um... Shell again. ..shell again. So, it just stays? Yeah. It went to heaven. What's heaven like? # It's a horrible, spooky place. # It is yellow and everyone goes in... ..nice, comfy beds. What do you think we should do? Turn it into chicken nuggets! And then what shall we do, then? Have a funeral. CHILD MOCK-CRIES It's really sad, isn't it? Yes! I know there's a lot of playacting going on now, but it's another way of exploring a scenario that they may encounter in real life later. I'm so sad! It's a good thing we're going to give it a nice little home. Mum... My gran and grandpa are pretty old. So soon, they might die. We had to bury it in a nice, pretty funeral. What's a funeral? A funeral is when you go to LEGOLAND. So, Evie-Rae, do you want to put the chicken...? The children have experienced a huge amount during this one short week. Birth, life, death, and so much of what's in between. We shouldn't be afraid to share and discuss with our children some of the tougher aspects of life. This is how they prepare for the future. Chick, chick, chick. Chick! Chick, chick... This chick had a very short life, but it's having a fantastic funeral. A great burial, yeah. Bye-bye, chick!