My daughter is about to turn 4. It is cliche and sappy but I can't seem to wrap my head around how fast this is happening. One of the things I have noticed is how different our conversations have become.
Now when we are eating breakfast together, or driving, or having a daddy daughter sushi dinner the questions have become much more google. They are phrased more carefully and are in search of specific and definite answers. "How come a bald eagle has a white head?" "What's a plié again?"
These are so much fun to talk about and much less exhausting than the questions we have been answering for the last 18 months. They have clean concise answers and when I don't know them I can literally google them. While this is a natural progression in her brain and language development, and our conversations have become much more fluid and mutual, part of me is sad to hear her favorite word disappear... Why?
Why? Having gone through my own childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood (though many would dispute this) I feel like the cyclical nature of things has me returning to Why? Will Richardson wrote an entire book about it, "Why School?", and I spend countless hours each day trying to figure it out... Why?
Why do adults insist on kids finishing their entire plate when science tells us we shouldn't? Why do teachers cling so tightly to grading practices they have never researched or questioned? Why do so many coaches believe specialization and MVPs are the best way to develop athletes? Why does every generation forget its own childhood needs/shortcomings and insist youth must be adults before their time?
Suddenly, the image of the baby and senior both in diapers begins to hold new meaning for me. Perhaps the wisdom of the elderly the is ability to shut out the adult need for "google" with its quick easy answers, and return to a more meaningful and centered mode of thought... From when we were three. Why?
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