Become a child yourself

From: Kathy Severson
Email: kseverson@christianheritage.org
Date: June 05, 2008

Comments

I have gained a much greater joy for all of life through teaching preschool. To cultivate the ability to see everything as if for the first time is so fun-and really a gift. I feel like I have grown by becoming a child again. One day we were trying to figure out which room to use at a new school. One teacher, who was very tall, picked a room because she could see the trees out of the upper windows where she couldn't from the other. Wait, we said! We got on our knees and looked again from a child's height and to our astonishment, you could only see a metal grate that looked like jail bars, while the other room we almost passed up had the most beautiful view from three feet down! One onlooker later reported to the principal how great it was to see three grown women on their knees giggling with joy at the view the children would see. Aren't you so excited when the kids want to catch the first snowflakes on their tongues or when they astonishment when they discover the squirrel on the windowsill-and he's eating the applewhen they predicted he would choose the corn first, or the awe when they see hundreds of baby preying mantis emerge from a pod you found on their playground? Seeing the ordinary through innocent eyes or experiencing something new (I had never seen a baby praying mantis or its pod) because of their curiosity is never dull. Unless this minset, or inhibition comes naurally to you, you have to be careful to not overlook the ordinary! When parents come for special events, I always preface the time by inviting them to enter into the preschool world, to become a child again. This helps them loosen up and experience the joy of interacting with their child-and their inner child.