Sometimes Kids Learn the Wrong Lesson
Posted on May 11, 2015 by Trevor in Being Dad
My toddler was playing on her playhouse tonight. As she is wont to do, she performed increasingly risky physical stunts. Her inner Evel Knievel was breaking free to the surface. Hilariously, she began telling herself repeatedly, “Be careful. Don’t fall. Be careful. Don’t fall.”
At first, I thought this was some kind of attempt to assure her daddy that she was simply remembering all the cautions her parents had given her in the past, and that she was, in fact, keeping safety in mind as she played. But as I observed her more, I got the sense that something completely different was going on. It appeared that the lesson she had internalized from her parents’ cautions was that it was okay to play recklessly so long as she spoke the words of that magical incantation: “Be careful. Don’t fall. Be careful. Don’t fall.” With the protection of those words, presumably, she would ward off the chance of falling and getting hurt.
To her young, inexperienced mind, “be careful” probably had no meaning. Mom and Dad had said the magic words over and over again, but we hadn’t managed to show her what they meant or why they were important.
In any case, I’m sure this will be only one instance among many in which we teach her entirely the wrong lesson. Hopefully all subsequent incidents will be as enjoyable.
