Icon books (UK) and Totem Books (USA) publish these “Introducing _______” books which are really fun! My bedtime reading right now is “Introducing Wittgenstein” (A 20-C Philosopher). Full of Pictures, little quotes here and there, there’s a lot of fun as well as funny stuff too. And of course stuff (which is supposed to be complex) made simple for a beginner like me. It’s part of my “non-Christian” reading this week.
Something struck me last night, there was this quote …
“Remember – we just SPEAK to children and they learn. We don’t have to explain what language is first”
Now that got my head spinning a while as I looked at Gareth sleeping. There’s so much he’s learning now even without me explaining. He’s clapping (I didn’t give him a course on handclapping). He’s holding his “Ah! Smell!” book and bites it when he’s not listening to me reading to him. We’re SEAKING to him all the time. After the retreat, I debriefed the whole retreat with him, he just looked at me as I recounted significant moments. He’s LEARNING, no doubt about that. He’s even beginning to COMMUNICATE with his own “constructed” language – ohhs, ahhs, yells, cries, smiles, touches …
I guess, there’ll be a day where EXPLAINING comes in. But for now, it’s EXPLORING all the way!