WHAT IS REAL?


Hey, Class,
I read a story online that can open our minds to the way a child and his toy reason. THE VELVETEEN RABBIT or HOW TOYS BECOME REAL. by Margery Williams, Doubleday & company, Inc, Garden city, New York.

It is a worry that we consistently think that we know what matters to the child; and most of the time, our assumptions are just very wrong selfish. The velveteen rabbit was a toy that became real to a boy in his nursery among other toys because it(the toy) wanted to be real.

In the same way, we can be real to the child if we ll just love that child enough.

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

...then one day, the nanny(Nana) talked derogatorily about the toy,

You must have your old Bunny!" she said. "Fancy all that fuss for a toy!"
The Boy sat up in bed and stretched out his hands.
"Give me my Bunny!" he said. "You mustn't say that. He isn't a toy. He's REAL!"
When the little Rabbit heard that he was happy, for he knew that what the Skin Horse had said was true at last. The nursery magic had happened to him, and he was a toy no longer. He was Real. The Boy himself had said it".

Our empathy is a tool we must employ if we must gain a child's confidence. Take the time to know what a child means when he says " It is Real"  Maria Montessori said " You cannot teach a child that you do not know"