Thought for today:
"Even the most mundane of particulars are capable of occupying the mind of a young child who is newly exploring the vast richness of the earth they were born into. Even the depth of their innocent questions is capable of stumping most adults, embarrassing them greatly or putting them on the spot.
When my son, William was only three years old and he saw a heavily pregnant woman, he asked, 'How will the baby in her tummy get out, Daddy?' Naturally I gave him the traditional Yorkshire Pudding answer when I replied, 'The same way it got in there, son!'
Children are also experts at conciseness of expression, which I suspect is much more to do with their innate honesty than any particular mastery of the mother tongue. Most children inherently have difficulty resisting the doing of something, indeed anything which they have specifically been told 'not to do'. Hence the one thing you should never say to a child is, 'Under no circumstances, Jimmy, must you ever do that;' unless of course you actually want the child to do it.
When a child asks their parent too many 'Why' questions in the same minute to which the adult cannot provide a satisfactory explanation that the child would understand, often the weary adult will resort to the standard reply, 'Because I say so' or 'Because I say so and you've got to do what I say.
'Our William's favourite response whenever I used the term, 'Because You've got to' was one of sheer child simplicity. 'Got to not to, Dad. Got to not to!' he would invariably reply.
My daughter Becky was just as defiant and smart in her response whenever I used to threaten to leave her behind if she didn't get a move on. She would simply swing her feet in the air nonchalantly and say, 'You go if you must. See if I care!' " William Forde : October 29th, 20013.
"Even the most mundane of particulars are capable of occupying the mind of a young child who is newly exploring the vast richness of the earth they were born into. Even the depth of their innocent questions is capable of stumping most adults, embarrassing them greatly or putting them on the spot.
When my son, William was only three years old and he saw a heavily pregnant woman, he asked, 'How will the baby in her tummy get out, Daddy?' Naturally I gave him the traditional Yorkshire Pudding answer when I replied, 'The same way it got in there, son!'
Children are also experts at conciseness of expression, which I suspect is much more to do with their innate honesty than any particular mastery of the mother tongue. Most children inherently have difficulty resisting the doing of something, indeed anything which they have specifically been told 'not to do'. Hence the one thing you should never say to a child is, 'Under no circumstances, Jimmy, must you ever do that;' unless of course you actually want the child to do it.
When a child asks their parent too many 'Why' questions in the same minute to which the adult cannot provide a satisfactory explanation that the child would understand, often the weary adult will resort to the standard reply, 'Because I say so' or 'Because I say so and you've got to do what I say.
'Our William's favourite response whenever I used the term, 'Because You've got to' was one of sheer child simplicity. 'Got to not to, Dad. Got to not to!' he would invariably reply.
My daughter Becky was just as defiant and smart in her response whenever I used to threaten to leave her behind if she didn't get a move on. She would simply swing her feet in the air nonchalantly and say, 'You go if you must. See if I care!' " William Forde : October 29th, 20013.
