594. Norks and Noogly

We aren’t supposed to teach people younger than us to be us. Not that we could, anyway, but it would be good to be aware both that we can’t and that we shouldn’t try to. We can let them know what’s important to us, and hope that whatever is becomes important to them, too, but…

One of the ideas adults like to think of as wisdom is the idea of the brevity of life, together with the importance of taking things slowly: “Time flies.” “This, too, shall pass.” “Look before you leap.” “All good things take time.” That’s easy for us to say. But I’m not sure it counts as…

Children tend not to eat lunch in school. Some do get hungry, and if there is a good dessert or some kind of delicious junky snack, they’ll eat that. But the sandwich or other main course doesn’t get eaten. It ends up either getting thrown out or taken home. And the lunch box you bought…

When a child says no to a teacher, it raises an issue that we used to consider simple. In elementary school, I never said no to a teacher. I’m pretty sure I would have had trouble if I had. Occasionally, I witnessed what happened if a child said no to a teacher. It wasn’t a…

Teachers do lots of planning, and paradoxically, that planning sometimes allows teachers to be spontaneous. I recently saw a good example. Pam Szczesny, one of the teachers with whom I volunteer, came to class either having just seen tracks in the snow near her home or at least telling the children she had seen some….

One day, I was sitting at the playground near where I live. In good weather, when school is out, I spend a lot of time at that playground. Most of the children who play there know me by now, and so do their parents, who know that it’s okay to do some work inside while…