They do strange things
April 25, 2008 (Friday)
From where I’m sitting right now, it’s only 4 ½ miles, as the crow flies, to a house I lived in when I was a pre-schooler. I remember a few things that happened back then. I’m remembering my playmates today – the kids in the neighborhood. We were in my backyard, making mud pies. Of course, that was the girls’ idea, but the boys didn’t mind playing in mud.
As we “baked” our pies, we held a conversation about how some kids ate mud pies. Well, that’s not so bad, we decided. We had done it too. Then the conversation moved to a discussion of the best dirt to eat. We agreed that some dirt was better because of its color.
I relate this to show how early in life we are learning how to have conversations, and whether some things are good or bad. Since we were small kids, we talked about small kids’ stuff. We didn’t talk about real estate or banking, but later as adults we talked about such things. And when we did, we used the skills we learned as small children talking about the merits or demerits of certain kinds of dirt we ate.
We learn much very early in life. We learn how to solve problems, to cooperate with others, what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior, etc. The children today are learning. They need teaching. They need guidance. Strange, but some parents don’t seem to know that. Perhaps that’s because no one taught them when they were young. Case in point: nobody told the mud pie kids not to eat dirt.