Teacher Tom: Listening to Their Inner Voice of Experience

Teacher Tom: Listening to Their Inner Voice of Experience

Listening to Their Inner Voice of Experience

The only rule we ever had surrounding our swing set is that the adults didn't push the kids. Other than that, we took things on an ad hoc basis, allowing the children to experiment and explore as they saw fit, negotiating and re-negotiating as new circumstances and new children arrived. 

Many of our four- and five-year-olds, partly because adults were not pushing them, had figured out how to "pump" themselves, a rite of passage skill like whistling, snapping, or winking. This meant that the kids were starting to experience some of their classmates swinging higher and faster than they did at the beginning of the school year. There may have been a time when the adults felt compelled to warn the kids about the danger of swings, but it had been months since I'd heard one. That's because the children, of their own accord, perceiving the potential for injury should one not remain alert around a swing in motion, had taken on that role for themselves, listening to their inner voices of experience CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Listening to Their Inner Voice of Experience