B a r b a r a s h e r I l L u s t r a t I o n s b y r a L p h

Another Viewpoint
Have you heard the expression, “Show me a bundled-up kid and I’ll show
you a cold mother”? It’s a reminder that our experience of the world may
be different than that of our young ones. Both you and your child can ben-
efit from being aware that others have different ways of seeing things.
My daughter Roxanne taught me about seeing another’s viewpoint one
day when she was about four and in one of those I-never-want-you-out-
of-my-sight moods. She would start fussing the moment she couldn’t see
me, while her younger sister played happily beside her, never fussing at all.
Not to my credit, I got impatient and said, “You’re not letting me get
anything done today! Why is it that your younger sister doesn’t cry when I
am out of the room and you do?”
“Because,” she patiently explained, “she has someone older with her!”
74
Attention Games
08_736546 ch03.qxp 5/26/06 11:57 AM Page 74

---

In this game, we all get a chance to see life from a different perspective.
It can be an ant’s or, if you’re in a whimsical mood, that of a tiny sprite.
T
Y P E S O F
A
T T E N T I O N
E
N C O U R A G E D
Open and focused
M
A T E R I A L S
None but your imagination
D
I R E C T I O N S
Sit outside with your little one and ask her to imagine with you that you
are both tiny creatures. Look around and decide where a good place to
have a home would be. Would you tuck away under the fragrant flowering
bush? Or would you rather live under the gnarled tree root? Maybe you
might even want to build a little home for yourselves out of rocks piled up
just so.
Then look around and decide where would be a good place to play. Are
you small enough to slide down that blade of grass? Would climbing up the
small twig of the baby tree and then jumping off be more fun? Would you
sit under that mushroom for a bit of shade or to get out of the rain?
Where would you find food to eat? What puddle has the cleanest drink-
ing water? Continue until your child tires of the game or wants to pick a
different creature to be.