Recently I spoke with the mother of a boy I taught in preschool two years earlier. It was delightful catching up and learning about her son's progress from preschool to kindergarten, "big boy school," as she said he called it. He was now on his way to 1st grade in the Fall.
After our visit, I thought about her son. He was a shy, dark haired little boy who came to school twice a week. He always wore a soft gray wool hat to school. He would ask me to put his hat in his cubby and then say, "be careful." I always assured him that I would be careful and that his hat would be there when he was ready to go home.
In class, he stayed in his seat, sat very quietly on the rug during gathering time and rarely spoke to the other children. He watched his classmates play and was hesitant to try things on his own. He was cautious, yet in some ways curious. He always gave me a quick hug as he left the classroom with his soft wool hat and a smile.
As time went on his personality emerged, like a seed bursting forth from a pot of deep, rich soil. He started speaking more; he became friends with the other children. He greeted his classmates when he came to school. He loved answering questions during gathering time. He participated with joy. This little boy blossomed in his own time, in his own season. His pattern of growth didn't follow his classmates, but his own.
In child development, some children bloom slightly earlier and some slightly later and many at every point in between.
"It can be hard to trust in these long windows of normal development...but when we trust the growing season and nourish the process, the blooms are magnificent, even in—no, especially in— all their variety." Amanda Morgan, www.notjustcute.com
This note was delivered to me a week ago, reinforcing my knowledge that the blooms are magnificent when I trust the growing season.
Marjan Oakeson, Director