Seeing this antic didn't even phase our boy. He hardly noticed it, because his normal is much different than mine. When I was little, I was excited beyond belief to chase a squirrel or visit K-Mart and get some popcorn. Here our boy gets to hang out with camels and body slam goats. He didn't tussle with this one, of course, due to the high ground advantage.
Here in India camels wear necklaces, bells, and sometimes even saris. Elephants are painted with flowers and paisley designs. In wintertime the goats wear sweaters to keep them warm. Many families have their goat sleep in the same room with them. Are goats cuddly?
There's much of a line to delineate animal and people spaces here. It's not like you have neat squares of land where the animals are and where the people are. It's all one big mix of commingling. Everybody's got to figure out how to accomplish their goals without harming anybody or anything. The cows are in the road, the goats are on the cars, the monkeys are swinging from wall to wall. Should I pass an elephant on the left or the right side? That's what I need to know.
So India is like camping in Yellowstone National Park, without the grizzlies. And our boy gets to experience this every day. He's learning how to maneuver through life and go with the flow. He's learning that life is not always in neat packages with clearly delineated lines. That we are part of something much bigger than ourselves. That we must work together as a group - how else would you cross the street?? He's also getting some serious animal skills. Elephants are so much cooler than squirrels...
How about you? How do you teach your kids or nieces and nephews to go with the flow? How are they learning to think about the world in a bigger way?
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