Brief Education

This blog will be brief. I am pretty tired and have to get up early tomorrow to fill in at
work. Xander was here overnight, and as I mentioned before, he is one busy little bee, and that adds to the fatigue without the benefit of knowing I can sleep in on Sunday.

I learned something this visit with him: I would not have been a good kindergarten or early childhood educator. I just don't have the patience. Xander is of an age when he is curious and wants to learn but is determined to do things his own way, which does not always mean he is going to get the right answer on the Curious George game, or make the right move. Sometimes he answers wrong on purpose just to see what will happen.

This is frustrating to his Opa. The answers are so obvious even a child could figure them out.

I run short on patience as he asks me, "Is it this one?" knowing full well it isn't, or suddenly cannot count to three. I forget that he's just four and that making mistakes -- even on purpose -- is how he's going to learn. I forget that I like to do things my own way just as much as he does -- or maybe that's why I find it so difficult to watch: he's not doing it my way.

Get us outside with a ball to toss, and I'm great. But when it comes to learning games, Oma is much better at letting him lose. Still, I don't think Xander notices. He still loves playing with his Opa. And as for me, I'm working on the patience aspect.

You're never too old to learn.