The Child IS Made of 100...

David Longaker shared the following poem with me in a response to a recent post I placed on LinkedIn. I hope it gives you pause to ponder as it has me...




This poem by the founder of the Reggio-Emilia approach beautifully conveys the important roles imagination and discovery play in early childhood learning. Much of Reggio-Emilia philosophy is based on protecting children from becoming subjected too early to institutionalized doctrines which often make learning a chore rather than an extension of natural curiosity.




The child is made of one hundred.

The child has

a hundred languages
a hundred hands
a hundred thoughts
a hundred ways of thinking

of playing, of speaking.

A hundred.

Always a hundred

ways of listening
of marveling, of loving
a hundred joys
for singing and understanding
a hundred worlds
to discover
a hundred worlds
to invent
a hundred worlds
to dream.

The child has

a hundred languages
(and a hundred hundred hundred more)

but they steal ninety-nine.

The school and the culture
separate the head from the body.

They tell the child:
to think without hands
to do without head
to listen and not to speak
to understand without joy
to love and to marvel
only at Easter and at Christmas.

They tell the child:

to discover the world already there
and of the hundred
they steal ninety-nine.

They tell the child:

that work and play
reality and fantasy
science and imagination
sky and earth 

reason and dream
are things
that do not belong together.

And thus they tell the child
that the hundred is not there.

The child says:

No way. The hundred is there.


* Malaguzzi

Time to share...

There are certain times of the year that life has a way of reminding us all of the importance of goals, developing plans to meet those goals, and then some type of evaluation system to measure if the goals were met, or still needed tweaking.

With the ringing in of each New Year, most of us come face to face with the thoughts of making a “resolution” or two. By definition, a New Year's resolution is a commitment that a person makes to one or more lasting personal or professional goals, projects, or the reforming of a habit. The goal must be reached by the next New Year and should be attainable and measurable. (Sound familiar?)

Quoting Frank Ra (author of the new year's resolution book "A course in happiness") "Resolutions are more sustainable when shared, both in terms of with whom you share the benefits of your resolution, and with whom you share the path of maintaining your resolution. Peer-support makes a difference in success rate with new year's resolutions". According to Gretchen Rubin (author of best-seller "The Happiness Project"): "You hit a goal, you achieve a goal. You keep a resolution".

So my friends, in that spirit, I’d like you to consider, and share your professional resolutions with SOMEONE, other than yourself, and what it is you’re going to do to “keep your resolution.” If we don’t force ourselves to envision and plan past the “here and now” we’ll never get past the “here and now.”

Be good to yourself…

Start to finish?

Just read that leaders have unique skills ~ opening doors may be one; closing doors may not be one. So my question ~ is it the responsibility of a leader to "finish the job" they start? What do YOU think?