I read this post a while back by Melissa Wiley, an author and homeschooling mom, in which she details how she felt compelled to teach her kids to duck after an incident with a soccer ball at a park:
Suddenly a cry rang out: “DUCK!” Every person in the vicinity ducked out of the way of the large ball hurtling toward our group. Except my kids. All three of them (there were only three at the time) LOOKED UP AT THE SKY. I kid you not. “Where?” cried Jane. “Is it a mallard?”
The fact that her children had no innate knowledge to help them distinguish evasive maneuvers from birds started her thinking about what other things she was just expecting them to know without teaching them.
I keep running up against this same thing as a parent. You'd think I would learn at some point. I guess in ways I am getting better. But I still find myself expecting William to know things that I haven't taught him. And considering that he's homeschooled and spends most of every single day with me, I can't blame anyone but myself for his lack of knowledge.
Kids really do come to us as blank slates, and we're meant to teach and, yes, train them. They can figure some things out on their own, but if left to their own devices all of the time, they usually don't end up where their parents want them to.
I need to remember if William is somewhere I don't want him to be (like in Talkback-istan) to ask myself, "Did I show him another way? Is he looking for a mallard because I never taught him to duck?"
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