Essay Toddler time By Samantha Loong	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
よちよち歩きの時間 昨年、友人たちの２歳になる息子２人と一緒に時間を過ごした筆者は、彼らの物事の捉え方や学び方に刺激を受け、2013年は、名付けて「よちよちアプロ−チ 」で挑みたいと言う。そのアプローチの中身は？

Happy New Year. It's 2013 and it looks like the world didn't end as wrongly advertised. Despite scientists and news outlets reporting that there were errors in how the Mayan calendar was interpreted, a large number of people still took it on board that the world would come to a fiery finish on December 21, 2012.

Every year, there seems to be at least one purported day when the world will end. I've often wondered how these dates work. As New Zealand is one of the first countries to cross the international date line, would we also be one of the first to go on any given "doomsdate"? Could I delay the apocalypse by moving to the West Coast of the United States? Do asteroids take the international date line into account before they break through Earth's atmosphere?

As adults, we tend to be obsessed with the passing of time. Many people use dates such as December 21, 2012, to motivate them to accomplish things they've always wanted to do — lose weight, run marathons or make millions. Personally, if I were told my last day was tomorrow, I'd want to accomplish as little as possible — apart from maybe eating all my favorite food with all my favorite people. Toddlers however, are a pleasant reminder of how not to take time too seriously — mainly because they have no concept of it.

Toddlers only really understand "now," which makes them somewhat fearless in their approach to life and learning. I spent a good part of November with some friends and their two almost 2-year-old boys, and I saw them approach everything with curiosity, play, impatience and joy. They found happiness in doing things like jumping in puddles or building forts from cushions. If they were bored or impatient with a toy or puzzle, they left it and came back to it later — and usually found it more fun and doable. They didn't worry about using English or Japanese — they freely used a mixture depending on what they were trying to communicate. They had fun learning. I like to call all this the Toddler Approach and I'm tempted to try their strategies throughout the rest of this year, especially with language learning. I want to find joy when I step into a murky language puddle. If I get bored with learning something, I want to feel good leaving it and trying something else. I'd like to not pressure myself to find the impressive way to speak, but to focus on just communicating — even if it means using simple vocabulary.

Gentle pressure undoubtedly has its place in helping us to achieve goals. But when it comes to learning, instead of over-stressing ourselves, taking the Toddler Approach might put our minds in a better space. I wonder if Mahatma Gandhi was also observing toddlers when he said: "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." Perhaps 2013 is the year to try this.

Shukan ST: JANUARY 4, 2013

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