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Encouraging Passionate Learners Even When It’s Not Your Thing

May 23, 2012 by notjustcute Filed Under: Learning through Play and Experience 3 Comments

I’m writing today over at Simple Kids.  Here’s just a taste:

I have vivid childhood memories of trekking down to the pond near our home and catching as many tadpoles in my bucket as my scrawny arms could carry.  I was fascinated by the process of metamorphosis and would check on them every day in the shed where I kept them, marveling over each limb as it appeared.  Once the tadpoles had fully transformed into tiny toads, my sibling and I would line them up in our driveway and race them down the lane as they made their way out in to the wild world of pastures, fields, and ditch banks that surrounded our rural home.

I was passionate about toads.

And my mother hated them.  But I never knew.

This was the woman I had seen pick up a snake by the tail and toss it out of her way.  She wasn’t afraid of anything.  It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I realized toads made her feel skittish.  Repulsed.  Almost phobic.

As a child who was perpetually on the hunt for another amphibian, I never once remember her telling me that they were disgusting.  Or that nice girls don’t play with toads.  Or that I needed to find something “cuter” to spend my time on.

We have a powerful influence as parents.  Our words and our attitudes are often reflected back to us by our children.  This can be a great thing.  It’s often how we communicate what our family values and what our expectations are.

But our comments and actions can transmit negative attitudes as well, sometimes unintentionally.  And the significance may be greater than we realize.

Read the full post at Simple Kids!

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Comments

  1. 1

    Susan Case says

    May 23, 2012 at 9:17 am

    Beautiful photo and post. You are so right. Better to enjoy everything that you can and allow your child to discover and explore as much as possible.

    Reply
  2. 2

    Darci the STEM mom says

    May 24, 2012 at 12:15 pm

    What a wonderful reminder to let our kids curiosities just BE, we don\’t always have to be super excited, but we certainly don\’t want to squash those passions. On the other side, as a lover of all things science, I have to be careful not to push my own agenda and excitement regarding certain topics. I would hate to miss the natural curiosity opportunities that my 5 year-old may himself initiate! Great post!

    Reply
  3. 3

    Ness @ One Perfect Day says

    May 25, 2012 at 6:53 am

    This is such a beautiful post, I love it! It’s all about child led play and learning and keeping that passion for learning alive. I’ve shared the full post on my FB wall.

    Reply

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I’m Amanda Morgan. Here’s what I’m about…

In early education, there is too much distance between what we know and what we do. I bridge the gaps that exist between academia, decision-makers, educators, and parents so that together, we can improve the quality of early education while also respecting and protecting the childhood experience.

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