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Marsha Walton's avatar

Thanks for your very interesting comment, Barb. I am curious about how many children are more like you were and how many are more like I was. I love listening to children because I love to hear their puzzlement. It takes a little time to convince some of them that I really want to know what they are thinking about, and it is true that they do not all share ideas with me. Still, I usually assume that they are wondering and trying to make sense out of the world around them, even if they don’t choose to let me in on it. I must recognize, however, that some children (maybe many?) do not approach the world this way. Your description of a childhood of pure experiential reactions may characterize most children, or most children most of the time. Your memory of an unquestioning acceptance of what each day offers may be a quality of childhood that many of us try to recover when life presents us with experience that defies our best sense-making skills. This just means that we have as much to learn from the children who do not talk to me as from those who do!

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Mary Durham's avatar

Hmmmmm. I'm thinking.

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