My 4 year old niece phoned up my mum to check if her silver pouch with her Crayola-crayon-marker-thingies were at her house and intact. My mother found the item, reassured my niece on the phone, and that was that.
I love the mind of a 4 year old. Before I didn’t.
I’m used to teaching the independent students, or kind-of-independent-at-least. The ones who can write and read easily. The ones who are 7, 8, 9, or 10. The ones who are in 2nd grade will do fine for me. Kindergartners, I’ll pass.
So this year when I asked to teach the 4 year olds at Sunday School, I initially balked. 4 year olds? What can a 4 year old even do?
Oh-so-much. I love the mind of a 4-year-old. I love that they care enough about a Crayola pouch to call up a grandparent to check on its status. My aunt Sana Dossul is an amazing Montessori teacher and has taught children as young as 2 and often praises the abilities of these little ones. I can now understand why.
Activities I would do with a 2nd grader that I now tailor to a 4 year old are received with double or triple the enthusiasm, excitement, and joy. Drawing from some activities my aforementioned aunt had done with the little ones, we studied God’s creations and what He had made. We studied the insides of fruits, vegetables, and one day an egg. It was as if these 4 year olds had never seen an egg cracked open in their life. Such was their excitement.
When teaching them about leaves, we talked about each leaf that God had made. At play time, many of the children opted out of playing on the playground equipment to run around and gather leaves. When I gather leaves, I look for a glorious red leaf, or a bright yellow, or a warm cinnamon brown leaf with edges perfect and intact. Not the 4 year olds. Every and any leaf is perfect. Every leaf whether it be lopsided, broken, or plain weird is perfect. Such are the minds of these amazing people.
I’m so impressed by these little ones that if I do return to teaching full-time, and if I am given the choice, I might just say No Thank You to the 2nd graders, and Yes Please to the Kindergartners.
Doodling Through Life 
As a mother of a 4 year old, I’m also astounded with how much imagination, energy, and enthusiasm my daughter has. It is a fun age – old enough to be a little independent, young enough to still have a sense of wonder.
I know I’m so impressed by them!! 🙂
This is a fun age – I have a 4y.o. and a 2y.o. Just watching them interact is amazing! But the excitement is what I love … it’s what I LOVE! Nice post! Fulton County schools… I also live in the ATL… Congrats on the baby!
Thanks! Baby is now 17 months …time really does fly! I love their excitement too. Loved your veggie post!
This was a beautiful read, Reem! Very humble, too. There are so many things we can learn from these little ones. Every time I’m with Kashmala, who’s only 2 right now, I feel like I’m learning something new — from her. I love that they’ll find fun in everything, and I love that their laughter’s simply the most beautiful thing God’s ever created!
Much love to Amira!
Will pass on your love! Love their laughter too. Thanks for the compliments!
Ages 3-5 are my favorite. They are still so precious and innocent, yet free thinkers already. I am at a blessed time in my life, as my two youngest kids are – you guessed it – three and five. Delightful post!
3 and 5 sound like a fun age!
How wonderful that you are enjoying and realizing the value of the absorbent mind at age four and under. We as grandparents and parents should by now be able to see THAT what we do and how we behave are all being absorbed by these tender vines. Allah bless them with wise US!
they are really like sponges!
I am honoured that I had something to do with you wanting to teach this age group! All credit really goes to Nana. I never thought I would ever teach let alone handle children this age! she’s the one who got me going! It has been my life, and I love it! And the icing on the cake is the pay back, in their sincerity, warmth, hugs and smiles!
Thanks Nana and Khalajee! I love the
sincerity of these kids!
This is just perfect! I don’t spend much time around kids, but they are just so wonderful and curious and interested in everything. It’s so much fun. What a wonderful post here. Love it!
I think I miss my children most at ages when they were toddler. I love their clear thinking. It helped me a lot with understanding life. Sometimes I volunteer to teach at my kids’ classes. I could say I enjoyed it more teaching kindergarten or 1st grade students. It’s way different when I was still an assistant teacher at college.