Article Link: http://www.exchangepress.com/article/seeing-how-children-see-us/5020108/
It was a beautiful fall day and the playground was alive with the activity of children and teachers engaged in play. A teacher was watching the children in the sand box when Charlie approached her and asked a simple question: “Are you happy?” The teacher, curious and a bit surprised by the question, replied; “Yes, of course I am.” Charlie responded with all the wisdom of a four year old: “Then you should tell your face that!”Charlie reminds us in this startling moment that children have laser-like attention for everything we do and say. They are skillful social scientists, learning about themselves, relationships, and the world by carefully observing the people around them. In fact, children are primed to see us. Infants are born with the ability to see best at a distance of 8 to 14 inches, the perfect distance for gazing up from the arms of their mothers, fathers, and caregivers, the perfect distance to begin to build connections and relationships and learn from seeing us.
As people who are fascinated with how children see the world, we have been reflecting together about the notion of how children see us:
• Do our faces show delight or ...