Our Planet

Text : Ichiro Kanai

We divide our daily episodes into 5 perspectives (Having interests, becoming passionate about something, trying something they have never done before, communicating with others, having responsibility).

The following text was taken from the perspective of “communicating with others“.

I am going to introduce you the ways of Fuki’s children.

January 13th G-chan

He is crying but when adults approach, he goes to them moving his butt.

January 21st Y-chan

When S-chan comes to me asking to be held, Y-chan budges in and pushes S-chan away as if she is saying “It’s my turn!.

January 21st R-chan

When S-san is holding A-chan, who is crying, R-chan sometimes heads over to them as if he is saying “hold me too!“. However, R-chan is often interested and immersed in his own play.

January 22nd Y-chan

She is approaching A-chan, who just joined Yamanoko. She seems to be interested in the new friend. She looks happy!

Even though not much spoken language is being used, various kinds of communications are exchanged such as crying, approaching, and smiling. We can see that because of the interactions with adults, children are harboring the sense of security and trust and also see that because of the existence of  other children, they are harboring the sense of “others“.

Next, we want to talk about Warabi’s children

November 18th A-chan

When she was pushing S-chan on swings, she was saying“S-chan, when you are done, it’s my turn ok“.

November 19th S-chan

When K-chan and S-chan bumped into each other, K-chan gets ragingly mad at S-chan.S-chan then said “I’m sorry“.

December 9th T-kun

During a walk, S-chan who was holding hands with T-kun sat down. T-kun looked into his face worryingly, “S-chan, let’s go together“.

January 19th F-chan

F-chan was playing at the playground of Home, Haru comes out to join her. She said “thanks for coming out to play with me“.

January 28th Z-kun

When I was helping him in the bathroom, he hit me strongly while laughing. I said, “Please stop“ but he kept on going while laughing.

Various kinds of communication is created using language, facial expression, and gestures. Without adults’ assistance, children are able to express themselves and be curious about others’ feelings. Seeing children help each other without being told, I get a sense of feeling that humans are innately altruistic. Although it is hard to tell if it is part of a play, there is a communication created by hitting a friend. We are always wondering what would be the best way to approach the child who does things that are not pleasant to receive such as pushing and hitting.

By looking at documents, we can see how children are trying to interact with others. There are many occasions where children hit others and the receivers cry. This always leads me to think “I want them to communicate their needs by words“ and “I don’t want them to do things that they don’t want for themselves“. But more importantly, I communicate to them that they are an important part of the community. To that end, I would like to keep thinking about how to respond to each person as if they were specially made for them, such as watching over them, being present with them so that they can understand their thoughts, and proposing pleasant methods.

I think that feelings of cherishing oneself will lead to feelings of cherishing others, and that feeling will spread to feelings of cherishing lives and things other than human beings.

By engaging with others, the wonders of living in the hearts of children can be accumulated, and it should be the foundation for living in the future. With that in mind, I spend every day with my children.