Life Lessons For Hunter : Love

[i_descend]

I tell Hunter all the time that my job is to help him be the best grown up he can possibly be. A lot of the time that means teaching manners, social expectations, etc. But sometimes I teach him the complicated stuff. The stuff that most people don't learn till they're adults, if ever

Comments

[sarahf]

Oh...just wow. That's amazing. :) Go you!

[anonamouse]

aww.

I don't think that's a complex concept to be explaining to someone Hunter's age. Children really aren't less complex than adults; their perspective is different from ours. Sure, there are some concepts they don't know yet because they're not fully integrated into adult society, but I don't think that's the same as having less knowledge. They know a lot of things intuitively (just from immersion in the cultural milieu, and being human) and some things they understand better because they don't have certain kinds of mental clutter that adults develop.

But maybe I'm wrong; I'm not a parent.

[i_descend]

No, to a large extent you're right. I'm all about teaching him everything undiluted, and letting him sift it out. For example, he's obsessed with anatomy and physiology, so I get him books about it. They range from books intended for 6-7, to college text books. Sure some of it goes over his head, on the other hand a shocking amount of it sinks in. He usually prefers text intended for high schoolers. Little kid books "explain things dumb and don't use the real words" and college books "don't always have enough pictures

[anonamouse]

That's a good point, I guess I was thinking of it mostly in intellectual terms.

My life has been full of those sorts of experiences. Reading things at age 10, 12, which I certainly had the vocabulary and grammatical skill for but not the life experience to comprehend fully--I recall certain novels which left me alternately confused and terrified. And of course let's not forget that time in college when I *understood* polyamory, and wanted to be polyamorous...but lacked the emotional and relationship experience to balance it effectively. Because, you know, at 19 you just don't quite have it all yet.

That's life for everyone, not just 4 year olds. But I'm sure what you give him will be perfect in time.