Cracking the Code.

Where children are concerned there is nothing I enjoy more than sitting back and watching those wheels turn. It starts when they are newborn, you can see them thinking, figuring it all out, processing. When they get older and can talk about what it is that they have sorted through the way they look at things can be joyous and enlightening. We adults get bogged down with all of the "truths" that we have learned along the way and the possibilities available to us become fewer and fewer. For children, it is all possible and listening to their theories can open our minds once again to the vast limitless world we once knew. One of the most prevalent confinements we place on our selves, and our children is that of time. Most people will tell you that time is an absolute. My own belief is that it is a contrivance. Another topic altogether. We can all agree that learning about time is very important to a child's ability to function in a world obsessed with the whens of it all. Time to get up, time to eat, time to nap, time to snack, time for dinner, time for bed. In a digital world and with my laid back attitude on most things in general, I realized with horror that my 9 year old did not know how to tell time in an analog format. I considered all of the ways in which you generally teach the pre-school set this skill. Puzzles, placemats, coloring sheets, crocodile clocks, etc. All of these seemed a little babyish for him, so we just strapped a watch on his arm. Human beings are information gathering machines. It is truly a wonder to see it in action. Whether it is on weather.com, NPR, or reading our daily horoscope, we are compelled to try to figure out what is going on, and how it will affect us. He spent so much time trying to crack that code, looking at his watch, looking at a digital clock, looking at his watch, noting that it was time for dinner, looking at his watch, and so forth. Within a week, he had figured out what would have taken me months to instill in him at pre-school age. For my part, I was able to just sit back and enjoy watching those wheels turn.