Asking the Right Question

Crouching down to be on eye level, I welcomed the newest visitors to the .

"Hi! Did you get to play outside in the kids' activity tent?" I asked three siblings, two boys and a girl. They all nodded.

"Excellent. Remember how there were things to touch?" I continued as did the nods.

"Someday, there will be boxes of things to touch and play with in here, but for now, I need you to look with your eyes, not touch with your hands. This is a 'hands in your pockets or folded in front of you' museum, OK?"

As I demonstrated by lacing my fingers, the two older boys followed suit; however, their 2-year-old sister with blonde pigtails -- the picture of adorableness as she followed my first suggestion -- very solemnly slid her hands into the tiny front pockets of her shorts.

"As you look, think on these two questions: What do you see that is the same in your house and what is different?"

Standing up, I smiled at their father and sent them off on a self-guided tour of the 1832 federalist-style house in which I am blessed to work, turning to greet the next set of guests.  

A bit later, the family came down the stairs from the second floor, and the youngest member marched right up to me.

"So, what was different?" I asked.

"Ropes!" she shouted with a grin. "We don't have ropes in our house!"

I was startled at first, but then grinned right back.

"You are absolutely right," I told her.

Trying to regroup, I asked her brothers the same question, receiving answers closer to what I had intended.

As I watched them leave, I continued to grin at being hoisted on my own petard, so to speak, by a 2-year-old. She was absolutely right. We don't have ropes in our houses.

So, what am I teaching her by having them in a house museum? Do I need to change the question or is it better to engage her and talk about why the ropes are there?

I think we can learn a lot by looking at the same questions we ask ourselves each day if we change our perspective to the stark directness of a young child. What are we not seeing that is right before our eyes and how do those "ropes" limit us from accomplishing our original intention?