Child development
Mrs. Mills neglected to educate her students on an essential bit of information in child development class: three-year-olds are not yet capable of learning the game “Mother, may I?”
I took my brothers to the back patio this afternoon to teach them that time-honored game. Nathan caught on quickly; he usually does. William, on the other hand, couldn’t seem to grasp the concept very well.
“William, take four hops toward me,” I commanded. He proceeded. “Oh no, William,” I quickly stopped him. “Don’t forget to say it.” He grinned and quickly said the required words. Permission granted to him, William began hoping. “One, two, three, four.” Unfortunately, William’s efforts had taken him nowhere. He had forgotten to hop FORWARD.
I enlightened him on this necessary element to the motion, and he tried again: “One, two, three, four, five, six …” I arrested his progress and reminded him that the number specified was four.
And this process continued for the duration of the game.
“Mother, may I?” is really an unfair game. The “mother” holds the outcome in her palms. William, therefore, soon found himself the winner of a game and proudly claimed the role of “Papa.”
“Courtney,” he said. He stood for a few minutes, scratching his head and looking around. “Go to the front yard and get a stick and kill that wasp.”
Perhaps Mrs. Mills should be informed of the deficiency in her class content.
I took my brothers to the back patio this afternoon to teach them that time-honored game. Nathan caught on quickly; he usually does. William, on the other hand, couldn’t seem to grasp the concept very well.
“William, take four hops toward me,” I commanded. He proceeded. “Oh no, William,” I quickly stopped him. “Don’t forget to say it.” He grinned and quickly said the required words. Permission granted to him, William began hoping. “One, two, three, four.” Unfortunately, William’s efforts had taken him nowhere. He had forgotten to hop FORWARD.
I enlightened him on this necessary element to the motion, and he tried again: “One, two, three, four, five, six …” I arrested his progress and reminded him that the number specified was four.
And this process continued for the duration of the game.
“Mother, may I?” is really an unfair game. The “mother” holds the outcome in her palms. William, therefore, soon found himself the winner of a game and proudly claimed the role of “Papa.”
“Courtney,” he said. He stood for a few minutes, scratching his head and looking around. “Go to the front yard and get a stick and kill that wasp.”
Perhaps Mrs. Mills should be informed of the deficiency in her class content.
posted by Courtney at 7:36 PM
2 Comments:
I had completely forgotten about "Mother, may I?" and actually had to look up the rules before I remembered how it worked. Seems so unfair now; the "mother" really does decide who wins. Perhaps William just realized this and decided to rebel against the unjust rule system...
So did you remember to ask "Papa, may I?" before bringing an end to the wasp in the front yard? :-)
Okay, this has completely nothing to do with your posts, but I thought I'd just say thanks. Apparently more than half of the visitors to my blog link to it from your site... Scary.
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