I was able to observe my daughter, Arianna with her daddy. Daddy was pulling weeds and Ari was with him in the garden. Daddy was bent over showing Arianna which items were weeds and which ones were plants. He explained he wanted the weeds pulled but not the plants which would later become flowers. He asked if Ari wanted to help him. With an enthusiastic YES, Daddy put gardening gloves on Ari and and weeding began. Ari would ask, "Is this a weed?" Daddy would go over, say yes and help her pull it out. He would show her where the mint leaves were beginning to grow on the root. They continued like that and when weeds were pulled Ari would clap and say, "YES!"
There were ways that communication could have been more effective. For example, Daddy could have asked more questions of Arianna so she could have shown what she was learning. Arianna learned a lot with Daddy and self-worth was increased by celebrating a goal getting accomplished.
I learned a lot about watching Daddy with Arianna. I, in my impatience would probably have rushed the weeding to hurry it along. Daddy was very patient and took his time. I could learn to be more patient especially when children are learning something they haven't done before.
I agree with you; I am not always as patient as I should be. Children do propose many questions and sometimes they ask those question during times we wish they did not. We must remember every time a child ask a question, that is a moment to learn. Arianna is very blessed to have someone who will take the time to explain information to her.
ReplyDeleteJohan,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this wonderful story with us. I think it is great to see that Daddy took the time to spend several hours with Ari. It is important for children to be allowed to help and I agree with you that it improved her self worth a lot. Having the patient to let children work at their own pace is important. In addition, I agree with you that asking open-ended questions is equally important to understand how much they know and learned.