excellent observers and rotten interpreters!
This thought was shared at our Grace Groups last week. I have thought of it often this week….
Children, without guidance and honest conversation are left to interpret so much. I noticed this last week when I was with Isaiah (age three and three-quarters) Our conversation went like this….
I am tucking Isaiah into bed. He is snuggled into his pillow and blanket and remembers he did not turn his CD player on and starts to get up to do this.
Aunt Trish: Buddy, I can do that for you ~ you stay in bed and I will turn on the Frog Story
Isaiah: I better do it Aunt Trish, I don’t think you know how.
Aunt Trish: I might surprise you. I know how to do that. I have to hit power and then play.
Isaiah: But do you know what buttons those are?
Aunt Trish: I believe I do. If I need your help, then you can get up to help me.
Isaiah: But how do you know, did my Mom and Dad teach you?
I proceed to his radio to turn on the power and then hit play.
Isaiah: Wow, Aunt Trish, you really do know how to play my story!
And on that note, I got a big hug and Isaiah was very quickly asleep….
I share that story because Isaiah had never observed me practicing my skill of turning on his radio and so he drew his own conclusion, that I did not know how. He did not really even venture to consider otherwise until we were able to talk about it and I was able to show him differently.
Children learn by observing AND the conversations we invite them into that surround their observations.
I have been thinking about where did I as a child observe something and make some false interpretation. Where do those false interpretations affect my thinking today?
I want to be aware of my own observations and interpretations and where they are fueled by what I know to be true and where they may be fueled by what I have made up to be true. I want to be an adult who invites children into conversation about what they are observing and interpreting. I want to be an adult who invites adults into conversation about what they are observing and interpreting. I want to live with a stance of curiosity….
We really are complex people with a myriad of experiences shaping our being.