A long childhood
I think back when I was a young child left with my sister and our nanny, Annie, the coifed water heater that was in our kitchen. My mother had painted a face and tied an apron around it and so was born our nanny.
It was by accident that we stumbled upon the Waldorf School and enrolled Tin there, not that we hadn’t always heard good things about the school but honestly prior to Tin I was blissfully unaware of schools except for knowing that it was an ordeal for parents everywhere in the United States. I knew nothing of Waldorf’s philosophy only that it had been conceived in Europe and had franchised out throughout Europe and America.
The philosophy at the school is that a child should not be “woken up” too soon; by pushing a child at an early age the child does not learn necessary skills that come through appropriate developmental stages. I was reading The Te of Piglet and the chapter on the Eeyore Effect. When it arrives at the Educator Eyeores, it talks about an idea of teaching where the goal is to impress the maximum number of Unpleasant Things upon children at the minimum possible age.
Mentally, emotionally, and physically, the human being is designed for a long childhood, followed by a short adolescence and then adult-hood – the state of responsible, self-reliant wholeness. What we see children experiencing now, however, is an ever-shorter childhood, followed by a premature, prolonged, adolescence from which ever fewer seem to be emerging.
I forget now and then that Tin is only two and a half and when I remember, I want to stop the world and just hang out with him here, now. It reminds me of Alan Watts’ Music and Life.
October 4th, 2011 at 12:51 pm
I think of this often with Oran, who is also 2 and a half and who finds such joy in exploring the world at his own pace and through that seems to advance ahead of the curve regardless. Pushing is so unpleasant, even as adults the impulse is to push back.
October 5th, 2011 at 4:19 pm
What a beautiful name for a boy.