"Let's pretend we're dinosaurs." Any sentence that begins with "Let's . . ." and especially those that begin with "Let's pretend . . ." are music to this preschool teacher's ears. "Let's be princesses." "Let's make a bad guy trap." "Let's play firefighter." They are invitations to create the world together.  In his book Nineteen Ways of Looking at Consciousness, neuroscientist Patrick House writes, "A body . . . is restless to get moving; in fact, the entire purpose of the brain is to make efficient movement from experience, and everything else, including consciousness ..read more

One of the most universal play activities across any number of species is "play fighting," or as we sometimes call it, "rough-and-tumble play." The research available on this type of play is even more limited than on other types of play, but it appears that it represents some 20 percent of all spontaneous, self-selected play observed on playgrounds around the world and, apparently, throughout history. If you view play as our instinct to educate ourselves made manifest, and I do, then it's obvious that this type of play exists and persists for good reason, even as our society increasi ..read more

A baby waved at me over its mother's shoulder. I'd done nothing to get its attention, yet, from across the crowded, busy room it picked me out, miraculously. As you might imagine, was at once filled with joy at being recognized by this unspoiled human. It made me feel special, good, worthy. And then, in a flash, I realized it wasn't waving at me, but rather assertively patting its mother's back, not aware of me at all. In a moment I went from joy to disappointment. I would have been better off emotionally had I continued on in my ignorance. Had I looked away a moment earlier, I might ..read more

"The grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and, for children, it's tiresome always giving them explanations." This is perhaps the most famous line from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's novella The Little Prince. It's memorable and funny, to adults at least, because in this case the child is exasperated with adult ignorance instead of the other way around. It's also instructive because it shows us ourselves in a kind of mirror. Over the years, I've found it useful to regularly look in that mirror. Before saying something about or to a child, I try to listen to how it would sou ..read more

Growing up, it was rare to have watched any movie more than once, other than The Wizard of Oz, which was annually broadcast on CBS, like a holiday event, throughout my childhood. The exception to that for me was the movie The Swiss Family Robinson, which I saw at least three times on broadcast television during my childhood. I loved everything about that movie: a family shipwrecked on a remote, unpopulated, South Pacific island, who created a kind of utopia. They lived in a magnificent treehouse, played games with the local fauna, and cleverly used the local flora to not on ..read more

I recently ate a tomato salad that transported me back to my childhood, several years of which were spent in living with my family in a suburb of Athens, Greece. I was once again in the dappled shade of the dining area of a taverna set in a park. Children were racing around on the lawn in front of the graveled dining patio where my family had been served our first course. The tomato salad hadn't been my choice, but rather ordered for the table by my parents. I really only wanted souvlaki, but Mom insisted I try a bite of the classic tomato, cucumber, onion, basil, and feta combination ..read more

Author and poet Diane Ackerman writes: "(I)t probably doesn't matter if we try too hard, are awkward sometimes, care for one another too deeply, are excessively curious about nature, are too open to experience, and enjoy nonstop expense of the senses in an effort to know life intimately and lovingly." We live in a time of plague, and I don't mean Covid. The virus is called productivity and the disease it causes is an all-consuming sense of guilt or anxiousness whenever we take more than a few moments to remind ourselves that we're alive. Our busy, buzzing minds insist upon reminding ..read more

The children at Woodland Park frequently go home with a plastic bag full of muddy clothing. The parents are often at loose ends over it the first time it happens, but soon learn to accept it. Some even learn to be grateful for it. Tomorrow is the day we've set aside in the US for giving thanks. It goes without saying, of course, that every day is the right day for gratitude. In times of anxiety or loss or despair, I often hear my mother's voice urging me to count my blessings. It's a habit I've cultivated throughout my life as a way to calm myself. This doesn't mean a diminishment or ..read more

I'm beginning my journey back to the US after a week in Vietnam where I've been a presenter and participant in an extraordinary event called the International Conference for Happiness and Well-being in Education hosted by TH School here in Hanoi. I plan to share some of my thoughts and insight with you here on the blog over the next several days. Today's post is a bit from one of my keynotes. At the beginning of each new school year, I make a habit of asking parents, "What are your goals for your child?" Among the most frequent answers is some version of, "I want my child to love lear ..read more

Most of us are aware of the American psychologist Abraham Maslow because of his famous hierarchy of needs, usually portrayed as a pyramid. At the bottom, forming the base of the pyramid are physiological needs, like food, sleep, and breathing. The idea is that it is only once these needs are satisfied that humans can give their attention to the next level up, which are safety needs, such as security, order, and stability. Maslow labeled the third level of needs as love and belonging, the satisfaction of which leads us to the capacity to address such things as self-esteem, confidence ..read more