Emily, Chester and Victoria were playing in the playroom quite happily this morning. They were sharing toys, playing together and having lots of fun. Then Wil came in.
"You guys aren't allowed to play here," he said.
"We like playing!" Emily replied.
"Do you want to play too?" asked Chester.
"I don't know," Wil answered, "I don't think we're allowed."
"This is a playroom," asserted Emily, "we're allowed to play here."
"It doesn't say 'playroom' on the door or anywhere in here," whined Wil, "how can you be sure?"
"This is where the toys are!" exclaimed Victoria, who then offered Wil a ring so he could join in her game of ring-toss.
Wil accepted the ring and threw it as hard as he could across the room. Wil laughed at this because he thought it was funny, but no-one else did.
"That's not how we play," Emily patiently stated, "we need to be more careful with the toys. If we're not, we won't be allowed to play here any more."
Chester and Victoria were very cross with Wil, but they still wanted him to play with them. Victoria offered Wil another ring.
Questions for Discussion:
1. How did Emily know the rules?
2. What happened next?
Monday, April 28, 2008
Wil Learns to Juggle
When Wil was very young he wanted to learn to juggle. He had seen many people juggling before, and they all looked like they were having fun. So Wil rolled up some of his socks and started trying to learn. He even had a few friends who knew how to juggle, so he asked them how.
"First you have to buy some real juggling balls," one friend told him. Another friend told him "You have to learn to juggle more than three for it to be real juggling."
But Wil wasn't discouraged. He was having fun throwing his rolled-up socks at himself. His parents bought him a juggling book for his birthday one year.
This book told him that he had to learn juggling on his knees so he wouldn't chase the balls around as he threw them. But he only got sore knees, and that wasn't very fun.
The book also told him that he should practice juggling facing a wall so he wouldn't throw the balls too far away from himself. Doing this only made Wil's hands sore because he kept hitting the wall as he reached out to catch the balls, and that wasn't very fun either.
These things weren't much help to Wil at all, but the book did show him some useful things. It suggested that he start with smaller steps. This was much more fun. Instead of trying to juggle three balls at first, he learned a useful way to throw and catch one ball, then two and finally three.
Wil's friends still told him that he didn't do it the right way, and some of them wouldn't juggle with him. Others were happy to juggle with him even though he learned to juggle a different way. They were happy to do it because they saw that Wil was having fun, just like they were.
Wil hopes one day to learn to juggle with knives, torches and chainsaws, but right now he thinks those things are too dangerous for him. He is very glad he didn't think it was a good idea to start juggling with such dangerous things.
Questions for Discussion
1. Is there a right way to learn to juggle?
2. Are there dangerous ways to learn to juggle?
3. Can you learn to juggle without having fun?
"First you have to buy some real juggling balls," one friend told him. Another friend told him "You have to learn to juggle more than three for it to be real juggling."
But Wil wasn't discouraged. He was having fun throwing his rolled-up socks at himself. His parents bought him a juggling book for his birthday one year.
This book told him that he had to learn juggling on his knees so he wouldn't chase the balls around as he threw them. But he only got sore knees, and that wasn't very fun.
The book also told him that he should practice juggling facing a wall so he wouldn't throw the balls too far away from himself. Doing this only made Wil's hands sore because he kept hitting the wall as he reached out to catch the balls, and that wasn't very fun either.
These things weren't much help to Wil at all, but the book did show him some useful things. It suggested that he start with smaller steps. This was much more fun. Instead of trying to juggle three balls at first, he learned a useful way to throw and catch one ball, then two and finally three.
Wil's friends still told him that he didn't do it the right way, and some of them wouldn't juggle with him. Others were happy to juggle with him even though he learned to juggle a different way. They were happy to do it because they saw that Wil was having fun, just like they were.
Wil hopes one day to learn to juggle with knives, torches and chainsaws, but right now he thinks those things are too dangerous for him. He is very glad he didn't think it was a good idea to start juggling with such dangerous things.
Questions for Discussion
1. Is there a right way to learn to juggle?
2. Are there dangerous ways to learn to juggle?
3. Can you learn to juggle without having fun?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)