Wednesday, February 26, 2014

I learned it from you

At dinner.

J: That was delicious. I just wish I had another samosa.
R: That was the last one.
[Aaron, with a huge smile, hands Jordan the rest of his samosa.]
J: WOW! Oh wow. That is so incredibly nice of you. I am just going to take one bite. [Does so. Hands the rest back.] Aaron, you are the nicest brother I could possibly imagine. That was incredibly nice of you.
A: Jordan actually where I learned to do that is, you taught me. You are that nice to me, and I learned it from you.
[Big smile from J.]
R: I think Aaron is right. Because, Jordan, since you were three years old and Aaron was a tiny baby, we have always made sure you know that a big brother is a teacher, and that you are teaching Aaron all the time, whether you mean to be doing it or not. So when you are kind and generous to him, he learns how to be kind and generous, and if you fight with him, he learns how to fight.
A: Yes. And Jordan is very kind and generous to me.
R: I agree.
J: It's true about babies. Once I was playing with a very cute baby and I stuck out my finger for the baby to grab and instead, the baby stuck out its finger.

I think Jordan's experience with the baby is profound as well as funny: it is probably true that we teach and learn more through modeling than by responding to explicit lessons.

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