How Free and Equal Humans Are Meant to Live Together
Two freshly-minted three-year-olds were playing on the floor, not together, but near one another. I was lying amidst them, fiddling with whatever came to hand. The boy picked up a toy that was meant to impersonate a tiny version of the cast iron hand pump we have on our playground. After a moment, the boy said, perhaps to me, "Hey, it's a pump!"
The girl responded, "I want it."
The girl responded, "I want it."
That's what we had been encouraging kids to do for months, ask for things they want rather than just snatching them. The boy continued playing with the toy pump without saying a word. I briefly considered saying, "When you're finished with that, she wants it," but let the urge pass. The boy silently played with the toy for 30 seconds longer, then unceremoniously handed it to her. I was going to say something about that as well, some words of acknowledgement or even praise, but again thought better of it.
A five-year-old once told me, unprompted, as if it was something he'd given a lot of thought, "I don't like doing CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: How Free and Equal Humans Are Meant to Live Together
