Day 39 Building Responsibility

I believe in letting children learn and gain experience early. I have never owned a baby gait, a play pen, a baby swing, or portable crib. The more time babies are allowed on the floor the stronger they become, and hence more independent and I think capable. (I have a motivating factor they are all very heavy - pushing 20 pounds by 3 months -and so I hold them at 3-4-5 months until my arm is sore and put them down on the floor.) Nearly all of our children have walked by 8-1/2 months. (One baby took until 11 months to walk.) I encourage them to climb stairs and to then learn to go down backwards on their tummies as soon as they learn to go up the stairs. By age four the children take great pride in frying their own signature eggs. And they make some good eggs. Some are scrambled with all sorts of seasonings, some are fried until stiff. All of the eggs are delicious and eaten with great relish because the children made them on their own. That means I am letting them cook on a gas stove with hot pans. No one has ever sustained a burn from the stove. Soon after the stove, is learning how to cut with butcher knives. I teach them how to recognize the sharp side, how to cut while keeping all body parts out of the way, how to walk with a knife, knives can cut on chopping boards, and safe use of knives when others are around. I think that education is far preferable to ignorantly grabbing a knife and pushing down of the cutting edge because no one has taught that knives have a sharp side and a dull side. Kitchen skills do wonders at increasing self confidence and real skill levels.

I have never had anyone cut themselves with a knife. Hopefully, we never will have a major accident! I like to think in the Wild West nearly every household had guns. Everyone was taught gun safety as a matter of life. The mature and responsible man was honored because an irresponsible man may shoot his gun when he was feeling angry. Responsibility was expected to ensure a safe society. Even today, we can build a safer society by teaching our children how to act wisely.