Staying Three

Betsy Greenleaf Yarrison

When my granddaughter Peyton turned three, I realized by watching her grow that I have spent my entire life trying my best to STAY THREE.  Three-year-olds use the exponentially expanding word hoard in their growing minds every waking moment to find the way to ask a million questions and to express their wildly imaginative ideas. 

For three-year-olds, everything is not only a learning moment for them but a teaching moment for you. They tug on you constantly to explain what they have just figured out about the world this very second and to try to make you a confederate in where they want to go with their new insight while it’s still fresh. 

By four they have started to give in to the exhausted grownups after a while, but three-year-olds are relentless.  The questions just keep pouring out.  The ideas just keep multiplying.  Their enthusiasm is still boundless

My own rich helping of attention surplus has kept my mind running in this same high gear throughout my entire life.  It’s a wonderful gift if you are a teacher.  Everything you think of, and everything your students think of, makes you think of something else, and something else…and the learning never stops. 

This column is my new storage unit for all the ideas I used to try out in classrooms.  It’s a great big new empty space for housing with what I hope will be thoughtful analyses and useful insights into current academic and social issues. My goal is to foster critical discussions and provide a platform for seeing the world from all kinds of diverse perspectives.