• Oct. 26, 2006 - How do their minds work?
My son woke up yesterday, crawled in bed with me, and once I woke up enough to have a decent conversation with him, he asked me, "what does manipulation mean?" Ok, he really is listening to all those stories we have in the car. I gave him the definition, and some examples from real life. Then he asked, "But how does a fan work?" I know, I should be used ot it by now. Anything he is currently looking at is fair game for conversation and exploration. He had been lying on his back looking at the ceiling fan while I answered the previous question. So, I went on to explain the fan by use of comparison to a car wheel and engine. He seemed to get that quickly enough, then promptly went on to ask me how a venus flytrap catches it's prey. Don't ask me where THAT came from! I don't have a clue.
Teaching my son this way has had good consequences. He is being taught 'where he is' right now. His vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. And I am getting a much needed boost in my self esteem...I really know a lot more than I ever gave myself credit for! All of his questions bring out all of the information that I have stored away for the past 44 years, when I didn't really think I was learning much at all! I still have many bare spots-I don't know much at all about history or current events, and I'm a little sketchy on the upper sciences and maths, but luckily, my wonderful other half is willing and able to take up the slack!
Now, since my son has been exposed to this type of learning, I have been observing him teaching others. He is very willing to share whatever he knows, and he is more patient while teaching than at any other time.
He even taught me something the other day. I looked over at him, sitting quietly on the couch, and his hands were folded, and he was looking intently at them, and speaking quietly. He looked up to me, and said, " I am praying to God. Can you come sit with me?" I sat next to him while he finished, and then he told me, "It's your turn. Pray out loud." I normally think of prayer as being private, done silently, but I thought about it hard, and thanked God for the day, and asked for patience and for guiding our day.
Son seemed to like that prayer, because he heard me asking for help, and it had something to do with him. I find myself yelling at him often, usually because I have not allowed enough time to do something, and we are running late, but there are other times also. He will stop, and ask me if I will be happy tomorrow. It always stops my rant, I take a breath, and say, "I'm happy now." And I mean it. I can't always control my angry reactions, but God has given me this little boy to help grow my patience and gentleness. How can I stay unhappy? I usually explain what was making me so upset, I get a hug from him, and we go on with our day. My bad times are becoming less and less, with my son's teaching and God's graciousness. I hope someday to be the Mom that my son sees in me. He's already everything that I could hope for!
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