Community Corner
A learning curve
A short time ago, I attended a little league girl's soccer game. Near the field of play was a crab apple tree that a number of children attending the game with their parents gathered under. I told the children if eaten these apples would give them a sour stomach. One child, a little girl I had mistaken for a boy, than pinched the ends of the crab apple splitting it in two, exposing a worm. The kids became animated. I explained that insects often lay their eggs in a food source to feed the off spring of the eggs. More of the grab apples were broken open, some, not all, also revealing a worm. The kids hurried back to share their discovery with parents. The little girl I thought a boy showed her father, who became agitated and brushed the girl's discovery from her hands and telling to wash her hands. I thought, NO don't do this- squash your daughter's discovery and her inquisitive mind. How many times each day do adults smother the inquisitiveness of children and suffocate their imagination and creativity, stunting development? P3