I am a human child. I am a miracle.
I am small but I am very bright. In two years, I moved from a near vegetative dependent state to an independently mobile, wilful, emotionally expressive, and socially empathetic being. On my own! Don’t you think that’s awesome progress?
I have come to discover this planet. I have people who love me immensely. I can’t read but my mum, teacher and dad can. Please read to me because I can understand, especially if you show me pictures, and gestures, and facial expressions. I would love it if you make me act out the actions. Give me lots of that!
I will learn to recognise those squiggles you call words very soon. No hurry. Just let me play with them. I love to play. Play is exploration. That is how I learn. Give me games. Put me in a team and I will learn social skills. Give me labels for my emotions so that I can tell you how I feel.
I can think. Let me problem solve. Invite me to think critically. My moral compass is strong. Activate it. Let me choose what is right. Question me, and I will learn. I like to imagine. Let me make up original stories and objects and spaces. I am curious. I question everything. The world is big. Expose me to it. Don’t fix me in one spot. I’m active. Move me on to various experiences. Give me access to your wondrous world.
Do not limit my little life to reading and writing. Fill me with ideas instead. I’m more than ready for that. If I can’t read and write easily, and with joy, it just means my brain is not ready yet. Didn’t I walk and talk differently from my brothers and sisters? Yet, none of the delay left any of us behind. See how we all run around, and jabber away at the age of 4!
I am part of the world’s heartbeat. I am the rhythm. Make me sing and I will learn anything. I can sing forever.
Tell me stories. They contain so many lives that I cannot possibly live. Ignite my senses. Introduce me to people. Put me in impossible to reach places. Let me share in the magic of other lives and adventures. Let me meet creatures of fantasy. Read to me please. I must hear the language if you want me to pick up English. Maybe, you can let me view stories on Youtube. My mind makes special pictures that are made of feelings.
I’m a digital native. I will live in the world of Artificial Intelligence. My sense for technology, and my excitement over building things is inborn. Let me experience it. If I fail, I will learn why I failed. It will teach me how to be successful.
I love to laugh. It is part of my intelligence. Make me laugh a lot. It will build my resilience. I have noticed only we humans laugh. I’m a natural language learner. I learnt a language with no adult “teaching” me before I was 2. Isn’t that a miracle? Mother Nature is a good teacher. She will teach you how to teach me. Follow her.
I am very observant. I will put together many things and come up with my own. I can synthesise. Don’t teach me a lot. Just show me a lot. I can link things. Show me the links. My creativity will burgeon. I am in a hurry to learn about how everything works. Technology will help you to help me. The digital world is like an endless ocean where so much knowledge is instantly served up.
Didn’t you notice my speed as a little baby after I learnt to crawl? Did you notice how I abandoned the colourful toys you got me after I had played a bit, and broken a few? I made a beeline for the shoe cupboard, for the waste basket, for the pail of dirty water… they were all at floor level and within reach! I was showing you how I learn. I reach out to everything I can access without discrimination. Don’t over select my learning materials for me. If it is not for me, I will abandon them.
If I could follow my spirit, would I be sitting in a classroom? Would I not be a bird in the air, a fish in the sea, a flower scattering fragrance, a tiger on the prowl, the wind in the mountains, the gurgling of rivers and the stars in space? Please don’t box me in. I’m small. Let me discover the world and myself. Give me time….
Usha Pandit
Taken from the Preface to my Pre-Primary series being introduced this year called “The Magic Box” series. Take a look at the e-brochure.
