Children's Questions

Dear Families,

Our discussion at the snack table today about images of Mother Earth and Heavenly Knights brought to mind this article by Cecil Harwood on responding to children's questions.  While a number of the children in our class are perhaps a little younger than the age described by Harwood, it might be helpful to be prepared.  Harwood describes ways to respond to children in ways that nourish where they are in their development.

While we did not discuss it today, the topic of responding to children's questions reminds me of another part of life with young children.  When and what point is it appropriate to ask young children questions or to give them lots of choices?  I was blessed to work with Hari Grebler a Waldorf trained RIE teacher in Los Angeles (next week I'll provide more information in RIE).  For Grebler, as for many RIE instructors, we help infants and toddlers when we provide them safe and secure and predictable environments that allow them to experiment and strengthen themselves and progress in their own way and in their own time--rather than trying to rush them along on a schedule so that they get ahead.  Grebler found it important to allow children's minds to develop in a beautiful and unhurried way.  According to Grebler, when we ask young children lots of questions ("What do you like?" "What did you do in school today?" "Do you know why I'm upset?" "What's the capitol of Oklahoma?") or give them lots of choices ("Do you want to eat dinner now or later?" "Which coat do you want to wear?" and the like), we are asking them to use an intellectual muscle that has not been given the proper amount of time to develop.  It would be like forcing a child to walk before she or he is ready.

That being said, I find in other ways it is important to give our children lots of choices.  Rather than telling a child how to use this or that toy (or to play with the toy and not the box), if we observe that they are being safe and engaged, we can let them explore in a variety of ways.  I wrote this article about choices in response to this contradiction I observed.

With warmth and light,

William Geoffrey Dolde