As teachers conduct their classes, they sometimes deal with children who do things that make conducting a class difficult. Some children tend to come to school with their own agendas. To varying degrees and in various ways, teachers allow some time for children to cover some of the items on their agendas. But sometimes enough…
We teachers and parents do our best to get children to know how to share. Sharing is generally considered a good thing to do. According to Piaget, children start out egocentric. Piaget didn’t make a value judgment about that; he didn’t describe that egocentrism as a form of original sin. But he did observe children…
I’ve worked with several teachers during my years as a volunteer. They all convey their expectations to children in different ways, and though there are some consistent rules and traditions at the schools I’ve volunteered in – though each school is a culture in some ways, the messages teachers convey through words, tone of voice,…
I’ve never understood football, and I’ve never really wanted to. Seeing people play it, and seeing people watch people play it, live or on television, I got the distinct impression that it was not my kind of game. It seemed to be a game in which knocking people down was supposed to be a good…
I’m not perfect. Neither is anyone else, as far as I know. But I like to grow, and I like it when I see other people growing. We all start out life making all kinds of mistakes, and if we live well, we learn to stop making some of them. But there’s an endless stream…
As I write this essay, a current fad among the children I know and children all over the country (e-mail feedback from my friends around the country has confirmed that) is to own an electronic “pet.” These “pets” come on little toys that children can keep in their pockets. They move around on a little…
To some children, winning games is very important, and they’ll do whatever they need to do to make sure they win. I used to think that parents were always to blame for that – that some parents stress winning too much. And some parents are and do. I also blamed society as a whole. Society…
Parents tend not to want their children to end up being punished eternally for the way they’ve lived their lives. Most people I know don’t think that’s going to happen. I don’t think it’s going to happen. Never having actually died myself (as far as I can remember), I can’t be sure, but it just…
When my younger daughter, Lara, was three years old, I saw her looking at a book. That was pretty normal, I thought. But then she spontaneously started reading it out loud. At the time, I was taking courses in the teaching of reading, and nothing I’d learned in these courses had prepared me to hear…
After several repetitions of “Knock, knock!” “Who’s there?” “Banana.”, the child finally answers with “Orange.” “Orange who?”, I ask (as if I didn’t know). “Orange you glad I didn’t say ‘banana?’” And I am. Very glad. I’ve said “Who’s there?” to so many bananas over the years that I really welcome that orange when it…