Literal Thinkers and Language

Children are literal thinkers. I recall once asking my then two year old son if he’d like to “give me a hand” opening a garage door. When he reached out his hand to me, I was reminded that colloquial expressions are beyond the grasp of young children.

Reading A Chocolate Moose for Dinner and The King that Rained, both written and illustrated by Fred Gwynne, enhances our understanding of the literal way children think. With humor, he plays with words that confound all learners of English and send our imaginations on flights of fancy or fear, depending on what’s being said.

If we live in Alaska, a moose might amble past our house while we’re eating dinner, but he’d not be chocolate. What do you mean by calling chocolate pudding mousse anyway? Children know rain. It falls from the sky. They can walk in rain and splash in puddles, but reign? That sounds like rain but is altogether different. Even for adults imagining one word being used for another brings fanciful and humorous situations to mind.

On the other hand, hearing that Grandmother has “a frog in her throat” could cause a kid to worry. How did that happen? What’s Grandmother to do? How’s the frog going to get out? Could it happen to me? Horror of horrors. Think how easily a hospitalized child might misunderstand a term and imagine something altogether different from what the speaker said. Think IV and ivy. The child hears the nurse say she’s going to start an IV, and not knowing what that means, the child thinks ivy, the plant growing in the parkway outside her home.

Many words are confusing. Take bear and bare. A favorite teddy bear might well have been loved and cuddled so long that he’s become thread bare. Then, too, words used as both nouns and verbs in the same sentence can be amusing or bewildering. Take, for instance, the child who could not bear to part with his bare bear.

What other pairings of words come to mind that might confound and confuse a literal thinker and amuse those of us who enjoy word play? We’d be delighted to hear your favorites and promise to share all we receive.

 

Active Play~Good for the Body, Good for the Mind

Children and adults alike benefit from active play. Walking, cycling, dancing~ these activities can be enjoyed in town or in the country, alone or in the company of others. All contribute to our physical and mental health. Regular physical activity improves our mood, and enhances our thinking, learning, and decision-making skills while helping us live healthier and longer lives. Whatever our age, we need to get movin’.

Learning new moves challenges us, exercising our minds as well as our bodies. We open ourselves to the possibility of “making a fool of ourselves” or at least feeling like one. [Never mind that everyone is too busy with her own challenges to notice our shortcomings.] When we persist in our practice, we gain confidence and competence, and realize the power of perseverance, benefits that carry over into all areas of our lives.

Valuing play and wanting to encourage physical activity, we began the year by adding Active Play as a category on our website, www.playworks.net. Here you’ll find balls and more balls in a variety of designs, sizes, and textures plus Bilibo, Rody, and the newest get movin’ gizmo~Magic Moves, an electronic wand offering 90 creative movements, 26 musical tunes, and 26 enchanting twinkling light shows.

With its multi-sensory appeal, Magic Moves gets kiddos (and their adults) moving as they listen to commands and follow the instructions~wiggling like a worm, hopping like a frog, swooping like an eagle, stomping like a dinosaur. Magic Moves promotes creative movement and enhances gross motor development, sharpens listening skills and the ability to follow instructions, and enriches vocabulary as children match physical actions to the words that describe them. Expect giggles and laughter among the movin’ and learnin’.

 

Laffy Laffalot’s On A Mission

Laughter cannot cure all our ills, but it eases anxiety, calms fears, and distracts us from pain. Imagine a child being transported by ambulance to an emergency room. Imagine his anxiety, fear, and pain. Imagine you’re the paramedic working to stabilize the patient while doing your best to comfort and console. How would you lighten the burden of this scary situation and all the other frightening experiences that lie ahead at the hospital?

Steve Islava, an empathetic and inventive paramedic from Orange County, California, understands the power of laughter and our need for comfort and control when facing challenges we cannot control. He invented Laffy Laffalot, a sturdy electronic buddy that comforts through laughter and provides choices aplenty. At the touch of a button, a child can hear 20 pre-programmed high-quality MP3 laughs designed to relieve tension and bring a smile to his face.

Beyond laughter, Laffy plays four custom messages, easily recorded and available at the press of a button. Imagine how comforting that could be to a hospitalized child longing for the companionship of family. When feeling playful, the child can dial in special helium effects for both laughter and messages. With three levels of helium, 20 laughters, and four messages, the experimenting and entertainment can last for hours.

Available only on-line at https://www.laffylaffalot.com/buynow.php, Laffy sells for $19.95, plus tax, on deliveries within California, and shipping. Three dollars of every purchase benefits The National Children’s Cancer Society. Purchasing a Laffy Laffalot brings companionship and laughter to its recipient and provides financial support to a non-profit organization working worldwide to improve the quality of life for children with cancer. That’s a winning combination, if ever there was one.

 

Thoughts on February

February, our shortest month, brims with opportunities to learn about astronomy, enhance our understanding of American history, be creative, and renew our commitment to being more appreciative, kind, and loving.

We have a bonus day ~ Leap Day on 29 February, designed to keep our calendar, the Gregorian calendar, in alignment with the tropical year, the time needed for Earth to circle the sun once. [FYI: Astronomers define circling the sun as increasing the mean longitude of the sun by 360 degrees.] That takes more or less 365.242 days, requiring the quadrennial addition of one day that gives us Leap Year.

Does that solve the problem? Not completely: 4 x .242 does not equal one, and the length of the tropical year is decreasing. By 3200, our calendar will be almost a day behind the tropical year. Maybe that will be the first Double Leap Year.

Our two most famous presidents were born in February. Our first on February 22, 1732; our 16th on February 12, 1809. George Washington, hailed as “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen” became known as the father of our country. Abraham Lincoln preserved that Union and abolished slavery. Can you imagine our country without these two men? Talk about making a difference! What better time than now to reacquaint ourselves with these men of courage, integrity, and principle?

Valentine’s Day invites creative fun. Let’s get out our arts and crafts supplies and get busy. In our blog for 1 December 2011, Peg Ackerman shared an idea for making a star shaped ornament/party favor. Substituting a heart and red glitter transforms that project into a “little something special” for anyone we want to be our Valentine.

Random Acts of Kindness Week runs from 13 February through 19 February, this year. The RAK Foundation seeks to inspire people worldwide “to practice kindness and pass it on to others.” Their Extreme Kindness Challenge asks participants to commit to a daily act of kindness. Now that’s an idea we all can support.

Join us in observing all the special days of February. Let us know which day means the most to you and why. Likely it’s not one of these, as significant as each one is, but something closer to your heart. For me, 10 February is the most notable. That’s the day I became a mother.

 

More Thoughts On Teaching Financial Responsibility

Our reliance on representations of money rather than “cold, hard cash” and “green backs” makes understanding money more difficult. When a child has coins and currency, she has something tangible, a concrete way of experiencing money. She can count and explore how different coins combine to equal specific values. A quarter is worth 25 pennies, five nickels or two dimes and one nickel. Other combinations are also possible, and whatever coins she puts together to equal a quarter, the value remains constant. Twenty-five cents is 25 cents.

Exploring different coins and combinations that equal one dollar further enhances her understanding of money and mathematics. Handling physical coins and currency allows a child to explore the impact of her decisions. Say the child has five dollars and is ruminating on what she wants to do with the money. Saving is one choice, spending another, choosing to save some and spend some is yet another.

Counting out what something costs, how much money in concrete terms she’ll be spending to purchase what she wants leads to making more thoughtful choices. Weighing immediate gratification against a later one helps children hone their understanding of the connections between spending and saving, now and later. Learning to distinguish wants from needs and how to save and spend wisely are key to learning financial responsibility. For children~and adults who relate to the old lament “how can I be overdrawn? I still have checks”~the concrete trumps the abstract. Ultimately, the concrete becomes abstract for most of us, and we embrace the conveniences of contemporary banking. The key to that transition is knowing~truly knowing~that behind every financial decision we make we need “real” coins and currency.

 

On Teaching Financial Responsibility~Part 2

My parents separated chores and allowance. Everyone was expected to work,
and each of us had assigned tasks for which we were responsible. Completing those
was mandatory, and work came before play.

We also received allowances. To teach us to manage our income, we had expenses
to pay. Whatever was left, we could choose to spend or save.

Our parents opened savings accounts when we were born for depositing gifts of money
we received until we were old enough to make our own decisions about what to do with monetary gifts. [Saving was their preferred, but not the only choice.]

Once we reached high school, we were given checking accounts and made responsible for specific expenses. Our parents funded the accounts annually to cover those expenses and provide discretionary funds. We were expected to live within our budgets, and to do that we had to understand the difference between needs and wants. Cost of living adjustments occurred yearly, as circumstances dictated.

When time came for college, the practice continued, and I enjoyed knowing that I had
money to take care of my needs. By contrast, many classmates had no experience in “handling money.” Whenever they needed or wanted something, they had to ask their parents for money. They missed out on opportunities to weigh options, make choices, and experience the consequences of decisions made~all invaluable lessons for emerging adults. Others, of course, seemed to have unlimited funds and, therefore, never learned about balancing budgets or planning ahead.

Learning to manage personal finances from childhood is crucial to a successful transition into adulthood. Whatever our financial situation, the more knowledge and experience we gain as we’re growing up, the better.

However we choose to do so, we must make time to teach and model healthy attitudes towards work, play, and money. Children are not born knowing how to earn, spend, and save. Instant gratification is the norm for children. Every want is a need until they learn to distinguish the difference. Let’s commit ourselves to acquiring the tools and teaching our children how to be fiscally responsible. They~and we~will be glad we did.

 

On Teaching Financial Responsibility~Part 1

How did you learn what you know about personal finance? Do you remember your parents teaching you how to manage money? Did they tell you, as I recall mine telling me, that “money doesn’t grow on trees”? We knew that. None of us had ever seen a money tree after all. Still, more than likely we did not understand where money came from.

Somehow we learned that people work, earn wages, and spend that money to meet their needs and support their families. Growing up with a deep understanding of the difference between needs and wants is fundamental to learning money management. When we truly understand that difference, figuring out how to live within a budget and how to save money makes sense. Staying on budget and saving take diligence, and the unexpected challenges our resolve. That’s why the sooner we begin learning, the better.

Many parents teach the importance of “an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay,” by assigning chores and paying allowances based on the completion of those duties. In this scenario, assigning monetary value to each task makes the relationship between work accomplished and money earned clearer and reduces misunderstanding of the consequences of failing to do what’s expected.

Others believe that children, as members of the family, need to share in household chores. Assigning tasks in age appropriate ways allows children to learn life skills and teaches responsibility, teamwork, and cooperation. “Many hands make light~or at least lighter~work,” and we all need to contribute to the process.

Staying upbeat and making a game of the chores takes the sting out of doing what everyone would likely rather not have to do. We’ve all heard the expression “whistle while you work.” Try that. Hum. Sing. Skip from task to task.

Some families set a timer and everyone focuses on accomplishing tasks as quickly as possible. When time’s up, everyone stops working and moves on to something else~perhaps a solitary pleasure or a family activity. One person may curl up with a book. Another may prefer a walk around the block. Actually the entire family could gather round and listen as someone reads aloud, then everyone could head outdoors and explore the neighborhood. Working and playing together are natural partners.

 

Out with the old and in with the new

As we bid adieu to the old year and celebrate the new, let’s pause to reflect upon the past and look ahead with optimism and determination. With families gathered for the holidays or spread across the planet and staying in touch via e-mail, now’s the perfect time to take a look back at 2011, acknowledge the challenges we encountered and express gratitude for the blessings we received, to recall what made us laugh and what made us weep.

Affliction and blessings are polar opposites. Or are they? Often unexpected misfortunes bring unexpected comfort. I am reminded of a series of articles Pulitzer Prize-winning author Rick Bragg wrote for Southern Living following the devastating tornado that roared through Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 27 April 2011. From What Stands in a Storm: When the Winds Died Down through Faith, Food, and Fellowship, the Alabama native writes of the devastation of “a gothic monster off the scale of our experience and even our imagination…killing hundreds, hurting thousands, even affecting, perhaps forever, how we look at the sky.”

In Faith, Food, and Fellowship, he shares his experiences of how survivors harnessed their faith, food, and fellowship to help each other. Families, friends, neighbors, even strangers, rallied to do whatever needed doing~from comforting, feeding, and housing to clearing debris and repairing roofs “because it looked like rain.” In his words, “there was no end to this generosity.”

I am reminded of the World War II reminder to Londoners living with the Blitz: Stay Calm. Carry On. Staying calm and carrying on, doing what needed to be done in the aftermath of death, injury, and massive destruction could not undo the affliction. Yet that coming together demonstrates how closely tied tragedy and blessings often are.

Among the oft repeated maxims I heard growing up, one stands out: “It could be worse.” I’ve learned that’s always true, whatever the problem. As we embark on a new year, let’s resolve to keep calm, carry on, and no matter how beset with problems we become, to acknowledge we’re fortunate even in our misfortunes. Likewise we must remember to be a blessing to the afflicted.

We wish you a new year filled with peace and beauty, joy and love.

 

Celebrate the New Year

As we bid adieu to the old year and celebrate the new, let’s pause to reflect upon the past and look ahead with optimism and determination. With families gathered for the holidays or spread across the planet, staying in touch via e-mail, now’s the perfect time to take a look back at 2011, acknowledge the challenges we encountered and express gratitude for the blessings we received, to recall what made us laugh and what made us weep.

Poll family and friends to find out what each considers the worst and the best happening of the past year. In the case of the worst, talk about what enabled the person to get
through it. Nothing is ever as bad as it could be. Knowing that is comforting. Certainly won’t undo the misfortune. Just puts the situation in perspective. Armed with this knowledge, going forward we’re better able to keep calm and carry on, as the Brits say.

What was the best event of the year? Retelling that makes the happy memory come alive and sets the stage for an optimistic beginning to the new year.

Recalling the low and high points of the year past, then looking ahead to anticipated pleasures in the coming year strengthens communication skills and provides insights. Starting a journal, complete with pictures, where our memories and our dreams are recorded and preserved creates a tradition of sharing and a family history to be treasured.

 

Light in the Darkness

With the Winter Solstice, we who live in the northern hemisphere began a slow, steady move from the darkness of winter towards the light of Spring and the Vernal Equinox. For those living in the southern hemisphere, the opposite transition is occurring. Summer Solstice has passed, and they’re heading towards Autumnal Equinox.

To avoid hemispheric egocentrism, I could use universal terms: December Solstice, March Equinox, June Solstice, September Equinox that do not match these events to seasons. I could. To be inclusive, I should. Yet I simply cannot “go there.” It feels too strange. For me, the solstice that occurs in December is a winter event; the darkest day of the year and winter are as inseparable as the longest day of the year and summer. They just go together.

In December, cultural and religious celebrations abound, each bringing light into the darkness. Hanukkah, an eight day Jewish holiday also known as the Festival of Lights, commemorates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in 165BCE. The miracle of that first Hanukkah was that even though only a one-day supply of olive oil could be found for the rededication, the oil burned for eight days.

Christians refer to Jesus as the light of the world, and what a powerful image that is with the world bathed in the darkness of winter. Seasonal decorations emphasize light, creating magical landscapes and piercing darkness, lifting spirits and warming hearts. Fireplaces crackle. Candles glow.

Kwanzaa, an African- American and Pan-African cultural holiday that runs from 26 December through 1 January, also involves the lighting of candles, each representing one of seven principles that form the basis of the celebration: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.

Whatever your holiday traditions, embrace and delight in the opportunity to celebrate the season with those you hold nearest and dearest. We at Playworks send our best wishes and goodwill to all.