The best kids

Living a nomadic life offers some exclusive surprises.
Due to circumstances with the Fuso Szulc, for some time now life is lived in a small community on a lovely estate in Southern California.
Long time friends who are happy people.
Who have a harmonious and loving relationship.
And have created a little paradise in a canyon.

But the most beautiful aspect of being here is the fact that two grandchildren of the long time friends are also part of the little community.
We have Pearl, a beautiful and bright 13-year-old girl and her brilliant brother Buster of 5.
Their father was a Yakima Indian who drowned in a river.

The thing with children is that in principle they are open to have a new friend.
And the interesting pre-condition they have is that first they see if their standards are met.
Is the adult accepting them for who they are?
Is the adult prepared to spend quality time with them?
Does the adult have true interest in them?
Once they are convinced the adult is really on their side, the loyalty and warmth is total.

This is a situation and condition ideal to be educational.
In a playful way.
Once there is trust, children love to learn.
When presented in a way that is like a game to them.

Last night for example was dinner in a Chinese buffet restaurant.
It is unacceptable of course that the dinner conversation is exclusively between the three adults.
That the two children are just sitting there boring themselves and likely to become obnoxious.
So, they are integrated in the social interaction.
Once adults do this, it will be a surprise how interesting the discussions remain.

During this dinner, Buster, the 5 year old, was asked if he wanted to answer a “difficult question”.
Yes, he said while his sis was watching curiously.
So, the question was: “What is the meaning of red and what is the meaning of green?”
Buster, brilliant as he is, didn’t have to think long.
He replied: “Red means stop and green means go”.
He was applauded by all present for this very correct answer.
And he immediately asked for another “difficult question”.
Followed soon by a request from his sister Pearl.
The long time friends also got involved.
They too came up with “difficult questions” and it was a communal thing now with all actively involved.
Having a lot of fun.

It is so interesting this thirst of kids to want to learn.
But it depends completely of the social circumstances of the child and the way the learning is presented.
Offering a fabulous challenge and immense responsibility to adults to create a situation beneficial to children.
In many cases, a troubled child not doing well in school is only a reflection of the context.
But last night Pearl and Buster were the best kids around.





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The kids say

Martin, 10 years old and Rianne, 8 years old from Amsterdam, the Netherlands,have this to say



De poes,
TOEN WE TERUG KWAMEN VAKANTIE WAS ONSE POES WEG. ER WAS EEN ANDERE POES. MIJN PAPA WILLDE DE KAT WEER TERUG
IN DE GOOT ZETTEN.TOEN BLEEK DAT HIJ MANK LIEP.MIJN PAPA HEEFT HEM WEER TERUG IN ONZE TUIN GEZET.NA EEN DAG HEEFT DE DIEREN AMBULANCE HEM GETCHIPT EN HEEFT DE EIGENAAR OPGEHAALD.

Translation:

The cat.
When we came back from holidays, our cat was gone.
There was another cat.
My daddy wanted to put the strange cat out of the garden.
Then we show this cat was cripple.
\Then my Daddy put it back in our garden.
After one day he called the ambulance for pets.
They could check the chip in the cat and this is how the owner of the cat could com to pick him up.

Swinging a club

Antonio is 7 years old.
The son of Christina Gonzalez who was born and raised at the Rancho Punta Boca del Salado, Baja California, Mexico.
Now she lives in the small town of La Ribera with her son Antonio, her daughter Lucretia and her husband Charro.

Charro is one of the local policemen in La Ribera.
A very nice guy.
Soft and friendly.
It would be nice to be arrested by him.

Yesterday he told he had been following a workshop.
The workshop “El Bastón”.
Policemen are trained in using their club to control or silence recalcitrant individuals.
It was supposed this was one day of training after which a policeman should know how to swing their club correctly.
But to great surprise Charro told that the workshop takes 20 days.
Often people have no idea how much time it takes to make a good picture.
But it seems an equivalent is found with the Mexican police.
Only to use a club, the Mexican policemen are trained during 20 days.
Imagine how long they are trained to fire their pistol!

Meanwhile Charro’s 7-year-old son Antonio was whining in the background.
He had a broken cycle-pump in his hand and was anxious to have it repaired so he could inflate the tires of his bike to take a ride.

Those are excellent moments to have special experiences for the child.
All conversations with the adults present were broken off and Antonio was asked what was the problem.
Asked, although it was very clear.
But it was considered important that he himself would describe what was the problem and what he wanted.
Of course an adult could take immediately the cycle-pump out of the hands of the 7 year old and fix the thing.
But that is treating a human being like a stupid child.
Who will have an uneducational experience.
And a wrong idea what adults can be like.

Hence, after Antonio described what was the problem the strategy was applied to have him fix the cycle-pump himself.
Of course, by advices and suggestions of the adult.
That were given though in such a way that Antonio believed he found the many solutions to the technical problems himself.

For example, a bolt had come off from the long metal rod.
An adult could show the child where and how to put back the bolt.
But another way is to ask the child where he thinks that bolt should go.
Of course he doesn’t know.
But when he is encouraged to look, check and discover, he will find it all by himself.
Eventually.
And that is an enlightening experience for the child.

In this way, Antonio managed to repair the cycle-pump.
And he was very much praised for his effort that he enjoyed deeply.
“Antonio, you are like an engineer!”
He was the most proud boy in Mexico.
Went to his father to show the fixed cycle-pump and to explain that he had managed to repair it.

Of course his father had been seeing and following what had been going on and went along with the important experience for his son.

“Antonio, you repaired the cycle-pump?
But that is wonderful, my son.”

This particular strategy of dealing with kids is not new.
Nor has an adult to be very intelligent to understand that it is very good for the child.

But the adult needs two things.
That are often hard to find these days.

One is time.
It takes time to deal with the child as was performed with Antonio.
Everything else on the agenda needs to be postponed and all attention must go to the kid.

Second is that there must be love and affection.
Of a strictly fatherly or motherly nature.
It is realized that the time and attention invested in Antonio now will have influence for the rest of his life.
And this is the most loving thing an adult can do for a child.
To give, to respect and to trust.

After Antonio was able to use his bike again, there was a return to the Fuso Szulc.
Passing the corrals of the rancho it was noticed that 13-year-old Edgar was in the section with the goats preparing them to go out into the mountains.
With him was his 11-year-old half sister Rocio.
Edgar had been doing something amazing.
He had tied up his sister completely.
To some poles with tight ropes around her body.
Even around her neck making it difficult for her to breath.
It obviously had started out as a joke.
As a playful thing between the two.
But Edgar being a difficult and often aggressive boy, had taken it too far.
The corral with the goats is relatively far from the kitchen where the adults are, so the family was not aware of what was going on.
They were not hearing the screams of pain and panic of Rocio.

There is a policy not to interfere with the life of the Gonzalez family.
They do the things in their way.
That is respected and rarely criticised.
But in this case action was taken.
Even to Mexican standards it was believed Edgar was going too far.
And if he was not corrected this time, what would happen between him and his cute young sister the next time, we may ask.

Hence, with authority and without hesitation Edgar was commandeered to release Rocio immediately.
Suggesting anger and displeasure for the way he was handling his sister.

And later that day, in the presence of Rocio and Edgar, their mother Norma was informed what had been going on.
Expressing disagreement with Edgar’s conduct.
Norma supported this opinion and rubbed her disagreement in.
Now Edgar knows he went too far.
And hopefully a barrier has been put up behind which Rocio finds protection from her unstable brother.




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