Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Milestones
Our family is a little divided about this particular holiday, for obvious reasons, but it is clear whose opinion prevails by the union jack bumper sticker on our new car.
Little Finn was born on another American holiday just over 8 months ago. It is common fact that babies grow and that they grow at a startling rate, but really, this is almost too much. 8 months ago I was cradling a newborn. Today, I am:
1. getting frequent bites from five little teeth
2. running to the rescue as Finn falls from his attempt at climbing up on the couch by himself
3. chasing a crawler as he races around from one danger to another (he would beat all of us at a crawling race, by the way)
4. grabbing Finn as he pulls himself up on wheelie office chairs that move
5. watching in amazement as he eats almost as much solid food as a grown person (he has never turned down anything we put in front of him)
6. listening to Finn learn to talk (Da-da is his first word!)
If the next 8 months are this exciting, we are in for some fun!
Friday, July 2, 2010
Teaching Our Children
Racing Tiger & Grandad) but he also has his Native Apa or Native
Grandfather, Tim Wonhola. I just got back from Lewis Point, which is a
Yup'ik summer fishing camp on the Nushagak river and also where Finn's
Native Apa lives June and July. Tim shared many, many stories with me
on this most recent trip. I wrote many of them down so I can share the
with Finn as he grows and begins to explore the beauty of nature and
culture. But for now there is one story, or perhaps custom, I would
like to share. It involves observation and teaching.
Yup'ik people do not teach their children in the same way as us
westies do. Instead Yup'ik people teach through observation "watch son
this is the way it is done". Never will a child be told he is doing
something the wrong way, never. First they are only allowed to
observe, perhaps, like splitting salmon, they my watch for several
years never actually performing the task they are learning. When ready
the child is allowed to try and will never recevie any form of
criticism. If they make a mistake they will simply be shown again and
in turn allowed to practice again. In Yup'ik culture there is "never a
wrong way only a better way".
I know that my patience wears thin when watching others do something
"the wrong way". And I know my patience will be taxed when Finn begins
to learn how to handle objects and do things with tools. But now I can
think of Finn's Native Apa and be still as Finn enjoys his own journey
of observation and learning. I can't wait!
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