Our Planet

Text : Tsukimi Sugai

At the end of February, when the snow was melting and the logs were beginning to show through the snow, M of the Kogomi class (1-2y.o. class) started jumping on a log. She says, “let’s jump!” and invited adults to help her jump across the logs one by one. Some of the logs were wide and some were tall, making it difficult for 1 and 2 year olds to jump freely on their own, so an adult had to hold their hands. I also thought, “Oh, the logs are too big,” “It’s a little difficult for small people,” and “I wish the logs were a little lower and closer together.”

Despite my concerns, the children did not care and took on the challenge.
I tried to follow the changes of their relationships with the logs.

 

<M chan>
Wordlessly holds out her hand to take an adult’s hand, then leads the adult to the log.
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“Want to play jump?”  invites the adults at her side.
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Goes outside and runs to the log.
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Always jumping on logs in the morning and evening.
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Tries to jump on her own without asking for help.
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Once she finds it too high or too wide, she gets off the log and tries again.

 

<E chan>
“Over here! This way!” pulls on the adult’s hand to get her to jump on the log.
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Connects one hand with an adult and pulls with her weight or deliberately loses balance to have fun.
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The sense of security of holding hands drives her to cross the log even if her legs are just barely wide enough.
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Willing to hold hands with an adult in areas of anxiety, such as crossing from a high log to a low log.
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Where she feels she can cross on her own, she will try without holding hands.

 

<Y chan>
Wants to do a log jump with one hand connected to an adult.
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When she decides she can do it herself, she lets go of the adult’s hand and crosses on her own.
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Holds out both hands and asks for help, when crossing high or wide areas.
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While the adult is holding both of her hands, she spreads her legs to the extent of her limits to challenge the widest and highest gap.
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Occasionally loses her balance and says, “Otto, tto, tto~! (Whoa, whoa, whoa!)”. She seems to enjoy those accidents.

 

<K chan>
Starts by watching M, Y, and her brother S do log jumps.
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Wants to hold hands with an adult to cross the logs.
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At a challenging place, she stomps her feet and stares at the log as if she is measuring if she can cross.
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When she decides that she cannot cross the log even with an adult’s hand, she leaves the hand, gets off the log, and climbs up to the next log by herself.
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Where she is confident that she can cross on her own, she does not stomp her feet.

There were many interesting aspects to the log jumping, and each child had a different way of crossing and significant changes. What surprised me was that I did not realize until I looked back at my records that this had been happening for only a couple of months, since I had the feeling that the log jumping trend had been for a very long time. Maybe it was the fact that the log was so close to Little Earth that it had become an everyday scene. Speed of change and growth of the children is amazing.I strongly felt that I should not overlook the small changes in their daily lives and what they have become able to do.

I also realized that I had been looking at the children with my narrow view when I thought “it’s too big”, “it’s a little difficult for small people”, or “it would be better if the logs were lower and closer to each other” during the early stages. If you watch them carefully, you will notice that even if those logs were too big or their gaps are too wide, they will challenge with help and try to figure out how to overcome by trial and error. I would like to cherish the individuality and energy that overflows from the children themselves, without applying my own standards.