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The Wisdom of Children

by Ruth A. Wilson
November/December 2013
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Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/the-wisdom-of-children/5021412/

It’s circle time, and a preschool teacher asks, “What makes you feel peaceful?” “Having a friend,” suggests one child. The teacher notices that Amanda �" who is new to the class �" starts to cry. When asked what makes her sad, Amanda says, “I don’t have any friends.” Another child in the group, Trisha, gets up, walks over to Amanda, takes her hand, and invites her to sit next to her. Trisha then tells Amanda, “I’ll be your friend.”

This story of an actual happening in a Head Start classroom may surprise you in a number of ways. First, you may be surprised by the philosophical question, “What makes you feel peaceful?” presented to the children. You may also be surprised at Trisha’s spontaneous empathetic response to the crying child.

While neither the teacher’s question nor the child’s response may be everyday occurrences in an early childhood classroom, they are consistent with what we know about young children and their ability to be intuitive thinkers. Too often, however, this understanding about young children tends to get lost or ignored in the mound of other perspectives, concerns, and priorities demanding our attention.

One way to sort through the varied and, at ...

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