Today I played a game with kids of different ages and I was fascinated by the result:)
We talked about physical differences between kids and people in general. They had to compare every two kids I picked. Then, they had to say something they like about every child that was in front of the class. The cute thing was to watch the little ones say "We like him/her because he/she is beauuuutiful" or "Because he/she picks up the toys after playing with them" at EVERY child they saw in front of them:) Interestingly, a year older kids (middle class ones) generally said: "Because he/she is so cheerful and cute / Because he/she plays with me". What's changing inside their little brain in a year to make them see things differently? And how does this change appear? I'm so interested in how they perceive the world:) I bet their parents and teachers have a lot to say in how they grow up, but I still love their way of seeing things and people. Of course, there were kids who said "because she's ugly" and I had to kindly explain that wasn't a thing "to like" about someone, that we're all beautiful and we all have something beautiful about ourselves. They found it tough to understand, especially when they had to say something nice about the naughtiest boy in class, but they still have time to get there:)
I thought about how we, adults, perceive the ones around us and the characteristics we like in people. Of course, experience molds us and makes us see things according to our expectations, but it's nice to notice how everything begins and how it develops:) So today I realized grown ups have to be very careful of how they teach the little ones interpret what they see. We're their models and we have to judge less if we want them to grow up beautifully and not make the mistakes we've made:)
