listening

I've spent today talking and listening.

A whole day, thanks to Evelyn Glennie and her TED talk which I listened to in the small hours last night.

It struck a nerve with me, simply because I realised it's been a while since I sat down, asked my children questions and actually listened with my whole being and full attention. However, after my recent maths board game debacle, I was aware that sitting them all round the table and saying "now children, we are going to have a proper conversation" was not going to be the best way to start.

So, I let them do what they wanted to do (Lego for the boys, Enid Blyton for Od) and sat with a coffee, observing and listening.

I was fascinated by the broad range of subjects they touched upon. Among them were:

What planes are built from
Why do new things smell new?
The sun is a star
Where the police came from
Cowboys and cars - did the two meet and where there any cowboys who swapped horses for cars
Why cold and bright weather is better than milder, wetter days.
How the kitchen table is made
Do the dogs talk to each other through telepathy?
How Apps work on mobile phones
Whether an English person should play Mary, Queen of Scots
When did it become illegal to carry a sword?
What maths they do like and what maths they don't (this is a post in itself)

This is just a snippet you understand. Some subjects were given more time than others.

Od then asked me a question about justice. She wanted to know whether some one who had stolen some thing would go to the same prison as some one who murdered some one. Pretty heavy stuff for nine in the morning. We talked about it, and she shared her opinion that the two shouldn't share a prison.

Several hours later, after drama, after the library, Od came and told me her conclusions, as it turns out she had been thinking about this all day. I present to you, the Law According to Od:

"The Judge should know the history of the person. If they steal to stay alive and to feed their children, the Judge should know this and instead of punishing the person, they should find ways of helping them. If the person steals again and again, then their sentences should get longer, as they aren't learning from their mistakes, but they should still get help. A murderer shouldn't be allowed out if they did it on purpose. If some one kills some one by accident and the Judge knows they are truly sorry, then they should be let out again."

She has now expressed an interest in learning about the legal system and how it came about, who made the laws and how a court works, so I have been looking into suitable books and pondering where to go with this. If you have a suggestion, please let me know.

It was amazing, listening to her and seeing her develop her ideas and beliefs. I witnessed her growing up today, seeing the world in a different way and trying to make sense of it all. I was glad to be there.

It made me want to listen more and more.

So I will.