mulling things over

Last night I read this blog post. Then this afternoon I stumbled upon this one. The first is all about toddlers and independence and supporting young children as they grow. The second is about how American parents raise children differently from parents in many other countries. Both were super interesting to me as a teacher and as someone who really would like to be a parent someday.

So I've been mulling them over...

The post about toddler-hood is mind-blowing. Really, it should be totally "duh" for me. I know about children's development. I know young kids love to do things themselves. I know they need extra time to learn and grow and experiment. I see a lot of kids in my classes who are NOT independent and who can't deal with frustration well. I see a lot of kids who I'd consider lazy and who drive me crazy with their incessant need for entertainment. But I know as a teacher (and think probably as a parent, too) that it's a real challenge to live within children's time frames. It's hard to slow down and let loose the schedule and say "Yes!" as much as possible. Even though I know it and I feel my job as a teacher would be easier if parents did it, I do recognize the difficulty...

I don't connect as clearly with the second article, probably because I'm not yet a parent. But even as a child-less teacher, I recognize the value in allowing kids to take risks and I recognize the beautiful pain in allowing them to face frustration... We love kids! We want to protect them and help them and make them happy. But really, truly, we want them to grow and learn and soar on their own. They need us as teachers (and parents!) to give them opportunities to climb to the top of the tall trees and slide down the big slides and jump off the high diving boards (Thanks, Dad!). We need to let them fail and give them time to play outside and show them how to take responsibility seriously.

The following quote could probably be a blog post in itself, but I wanted to add it here because it sums up an idea I think meshes nicely with the two posts I mentioned above. It's from one of my favorite bloggers:  

"It is a wondrous and heart wrenching predicament, to dedicate yourself to growing and loving another soul so successfully that they eventually establish their own independence."

(image here)